24th Annual Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students Conference

The 24th annual Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students conference will be held on October 16, 2009 in the NYU Kimmel Center for University Life. The theme of this year's conference "Reflect, Rethink, Reshape: Exploring the New Normal", seeks to encourage leaders and MBA's to look back on the challenges within the business community over the past year and determine what their place will be in the new environment. When best practices have disappointed or proven as professionally irresponsible, we have the opportunity to recalibrate business norms and create value in unchartered areas of enterprise. Diversity of culture, industry experience and of academic intellect is especially critical when challenging tradition, but by embracing these individual distinctions we are better equipped to stimulate intellectual and economic growth. It is our responsibility to set the "new normal" and to create business opportunity out of adversity.

This year we welcome Mr. Richard Gay as the keynote speaker. Richard Gay is Executive Vice President, Strategy and Operations for MTV & VH1, part of the MTV Networks division of Viacom, Inc. In his position, Mr. Gay's responsibilities include strategic and long-range planning, strategic partnerships, brand level mergers and acquisitions and business development, key operational initiatives across the business and serving as brand liaison for centralized "back office" functions. Mr. Gay performs these responsibilities for MTV, VH1, each brand's sister networks and each brand's digital properties.

In addition, the AHBBS conference will host industry panels examining topics such as emerging opportunities in finance as well as what impact culture has on the marketing experience. During lunch attendees will have the opportunity to meet sponsors and AHBBS will be presenting the distinguished alumni award to Allan Boomer, Vice President of Private Wealth Management at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and chair of the NYU Stern Alumni Council.

The conference will also feature an intercultural communications workshop entitled, "Managing Across Cultures" presented by William Cruz, President of TCB Consulting. Mr. Cruz has spoken at numerous corporations, colleges and conferences around the country and AHBBS is very excited to have him at the conference. This fascinating seminar brings to light the differences in nonverbal and verbal communication styles across cultures and how these differences can cause misperceptions and misinterpretations leading to misunderstanding. Mr. Cruz will address the common wrong ways to deal with the differences and provide tips to effectively deal with the differences to prevent misunderstanding. This seminar is exceptional and outstanding in addressing the "hidden" diversity between cultures.

The conference will conclude with a corporate networking reception with AHBBS sponsors such as Bank of New York, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Goldman Sachs & Co., American Express, Barclays Capital, Colgate, Deloitte Services LP and Unilever. Attendees will have a wonderful opportunity to network with representatives from these corporations in an informal setting.

Tickets are now on sale through Campus Groups at http://bit.ly/AHBBS-Conference. Ticket prices are as follows: Current Students, Early Registration until October 5th (AHBBS Members Only)- $20, Current Students, AHBBS Members- $30, Current Students, Non-Members- $40, NYU Stern Alumni- $50 and Corporate Professionals- $75.