Ascending Together
At the Conference, we had time to assess what we’ve learned over the last year and prepared for the next year of our collective work to grow businesses owned by people of color, women, and veterans. The theme was "Ascending Together." The focus was on how to utilize the strength of the network to reach our collective goals. This was an an in-person event.
Video & Resources from Conference
Keynote speaker during Day 2 of the Conference, Ms. Alexis McSween
Presentations & Notes
Featured Speakers
To read bios, click on an image and hover over the picture.
Agenda
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WELCOME
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
OPENING DINNER AND PROGRAM
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Candace Mitchell Harris, Mistress of Ceremonies
David Greenberg, Executive VP of Facilities and Operations, Columbia University
CITY ROLL CALL& CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS
Ascend City partners will announce their success in growing businesses above the $1, $5, and $10 million levels!
WHY ASCEND MATTERS
Jeanique Druses, Executive Director and Senior Program Officer, JPMorgan Chase Global Philanthropy
Structural barriers in the U.S. have created profound racial inequalities, made worse by the pandemic. Jeanique Riche-Druses, Executive Director/Sr. Program Officer at JPMorgan Chase Global Philanthropy will speak about the firm's commitment to helping close the racial wealth gap and driving economic inclusion by providing more opportunities for entrepreneurship.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: CLOSING THE BUSINESS SUCCESS GAP Rachel Atkins, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Management & Organizations, New York University, Stern School of Business
Prof. Rachel Atkins shares her latest insights on her research on racial equity and inequity in entrepreneurship, organizations, technology, and public policy. In her address, she will explore strategies to mitigate the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses owned by people of color and accelerate the growth of wealth-creating businesses.
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7:30 AM
OPENING & BREAKFAST
8:00 AM — 8:40 AM
WELCOME & WARM-UP: “Ascending Together Game” by John Frias from Ascend New York and Terri Arnold-McKenzie from Ascend Long Island
Through an interactive game, conference participants will test their knowledge about New York and Ascend's M3 model while competing for prizes.
8:45 AM - 9:15 AM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: “Aiming for the Stars” by Alexis McSween, CEO of Bottomline Construction & Development
In her keynote address, Alexis will share the ingenuity, grit, and grace needed to grow a business from an idea to an award-winning enterprise.
9:25 AM - 10: 25 AM
MANAGEMENT EDUCATION SESSIONS
• A New Model for Growing Businesses Owned by People of Color, led by James Hill, Ph.D. Chair Department of Operations and Business Analytics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University and Renard Green, Ascend Program Director, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University"
Since 2020, the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University has been piloting a new model for growing people of color-owned businesses through Ascend. This session will explore how focusing on problem-solving, engagement between a corporation and its suppliers, and coaching accelerates businesses owned by people of color toward the middle market.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset, led by Prof. Alex Glosenberg, Assistant Professor of Management at Loyola Marymount University
The entrepreneurial mindset is critical to entrepreneurial success. A promising approach to enhancing an entrepreneurial mindset, known as personal initiative (PI) training, has positively affected firm performance among entrepreneurs from marginalized backgrounds. Prof. Glosenberg will introduce the training methodology and ways its principles integrate into an ASCEND curriculum.
• Lessons Learned: Toward Exceptional Management Education, led by David Choi, Ph.D., Conrad N. Hilton Chair of Entrepreneurship, Loyola Marymount University and Candace Mitchell Harris, Ascend National and Ascend Atlanta
This workshop will move Ascend closer to our ultimate goal of creating standardization of curriculum topics and outcomes driven by our management education programs. The standardization will strengthen Management education's relationship with Market Access and Money partners. The goals are to identify common management topics that have proven to add value and find missing areas where the curriculum needs further development.
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM
DATA REPORTING & COLLECTION SESSION
by Kim Zeuli, Founder and Managing Director of Equitable Evaluation Practice
"What gets measured gets done!" This plenary session will focus on how Ascend organizations can collect and use real-time and near-time data to improve client business outcomes.
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
LUNCH & NETWORKING
12:45 PM - 1:45 PM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER PANEL
“Opportunities and Challenges to Growing People of Color Owned Businesses: Public and Private Policy Considerations” by Ted Archer, Executive Director, Head of Business Partner Diversity at JP Morgan Chase & Co. by Ted Archer, Executive Director, Head of Business Partner Diversity; Ying McGuire, President, National Minority Supplier Development Council; Charlene Vickers, Johnson & Johnson; and Raul Suarez Rodriguez, Merck
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
• MARKET ACCESS PARTNERS PLANNING SESSION
Each city will have the opportunity to meet with the partners they’ve invited with goal of creating a strategic plan to bridge contracting opportunities for both MBEs and market access partners. For those cities that are still developing their anchor councils, this session will serve to learn from best practices and create a plan and timeline to engage with market access partners in their areas.
• ASCEND NATIONAL COHORT- Faculty and Curriculum Leads
[This session is only for James H., Elizabeth U., Renard G., and Michele Rogers]
Faculty leads for the Ascend National Cohort will discuss program content.
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
“Improving public policy to promote diverse supply chains” [This session is only for Nancy C., Robert H., Roxanne N., Monica V., Ted A., David C., Cate C., Michael G., James L., Ying M., Lyneir R., Shoelee S., Raul SR., Charlene V., and Michael V.]
This roundtable will discuss various approaches to creating public and corporate policy to increase contracting success for businesses owned by people of color.
3:05 PM - 3:50 PM
RECRUITING BUSINESSES POISED FOR GROWTH
Beginning as a plenary session panelists will share the strategies they have successfully used to recruit businesses poised to grow above the $1M, $5M, and $10M levels. Following their introductory remarks, we will break into small discussion groups that will address the tactics and tools needed for success.
• Recruiting At $1M Level, led by Wil Tutol, Director of Washington State Programs at Foster School of Business-UW CBDC
• Recruiting At $5M Level, led by Tiffany Bussey, Executive Director at Morehouse Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
• Recruiting At $10M Level, led by Michele Rogers, Assistant Professor and Director of Chicago Partnerships at Northwestern University
4:15 PM - 5:00 PM
INNOVATIVE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS BUILT TO SERVE SUPPLIER DIVERSITY EFFORTS, Moderated by Kenny Shelton, Associate Director at Ascend National and Panelists: Yvonne Durbin, Director at LISC, Emma Kloppenburg, Sr. Program Officer at LISC, and Lyneir Richardson, Black and Latino Angel Investment Fund
National data shows that less than 15% of loans to businesses made by CDFIs go to businesses owned by people of color. This session will explore new financial products specifically designed to assist the growth of businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color.
5:00 PM
CLOSING
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
RECEPTION
Day 2 of the Ascend National Conference will end with an evening reception that facilitates ongoing discussions with new and longstanding friends and colleagues.
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7:30 AM
OPENING & BREAKFAST
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
WELCOME, by Candace Mitchell Harris
8:30 AM - 9:10 AM
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, Barbara Jones, Founder and CEO of Lillii RNB Inc., and William Crowder, Managing Partner of Aperture Venture Capital
Keynote speakers will inspire us to connect with venture capital and other equity investment firms that specifically fund businesses owned by people of color.
9:15 AM - 10: 15 AM
INDUSTRY-FOCUSED CONTRACTING AND PROCUREMENT SESSIONS
• Leveraging Mediators to Drive Anchor Engagement by Rene Cota, President of CMG Alliance
Local, state, and federal governments are attractive markets for Ascend businesses. The nature of government contracting opportunities means new entrants in this market face high barriers to entry. This workshop will provide an overview of the government contracting marketplace and help Ascend ecosystems across the U.S. engage with intermediaries supporting MBEs in successfully winning government contracts.
• How I Raised Venture Capital, by Candace Mitchell Harris, Market Access Partnerships and Alumni Engagement for Ascend National and CEO of Myavana, Barbara Jones, CEO of Lillii RNB Inc., and William Crowder, Managing Partner of Aperture Venture Capital
This workshop will explore the practicalities of identifying, coaching, and connecting people of color-owned businesses with venture capital and other equity funding sources.
• Commercial Construction Market Workshop, led by Jason Levine, Chief Estimator at OmniBuild
This workshop will present proven strategies that increase the success that MBEs bid on, win, and perform commercial construction contracts.
• JPMorgan Chase Program Officer Meeting: Furthering the Work to Grow Wealth-Building Businesses Owned by People of Color, Only for JPMorgan Chase Employees
10:20 AM - 10:45 AM
DEVELOPING THE MARKET ACCESS PLAYBOOK, led by Candace Mitchell Harris
Report outs from the concurrent workshops will share learning across the network and help update an Ascend-wide playbook.
11:05 AM - 12:15 PM
WHERE WE GO FROM HERE: ASCEND CITY ECOSYSTEMS GOAL SETTING WITH FUNDERS
The goal of this session is to consolidate conference learnings and outline key new performance goals for the next 12 months. Each Ascend ecosystem will meet with its JPMorgan Chase Program Officer. Ecosystems are also encouraged to invite other current or potential funders to attend this session either in person or virtually.
12:20 PM - 12:30 PM
CLOSING & EVALUATION
Evaluations completed in this session will shape Ascend's ongoing City-to-City and in-person convenings plan for the coming 12 months. We will transition from this session to a tour of Columbia University's newest Manhattanville campus.
12:30 PM - 2: 30 PM
TOUR OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S MANHATTANVILLE CAMPUS
An all-inclusive tour of the brand new addition at Columbia University: Manhattanville, this tour will cover its history, the development and implementation of the Community Benefits Agreement and the Declaration of Covenants and Agreements, and how the project exceeded its minority-, women- and local-contracting goals. The tour ends with a boxed lunch, by a local Ascend NY business, and a farewell till next year!