Washington Informer

The Office of Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker recently announced seven imdividuals who will comprise the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) for the $50 million Economic Development Incentive (EDI) Fund.

Under the law that created the EDI Fund, the Committee is responsible for reviewing and providing credit guidance to Brad Seamon, the County's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), regarding financial assistance applications of loans and grants from the EDI Fund. The Committee members are all County residents with backgrounds in business and finance.

"I want to thank the members of the EDI Fund Financial Advisory Committee for volunteering their time and talents to help spur economic growth in Prince George's County," said Baker. "Now with the Financial Advisory Committee in place we can approve our first EDI loans and grants and allow this investment money to begin creating jobs and opportunities for County residents."

The EDI Fund, signed into law on November 17, 2011, became operational on March 1, 2012. Applications for financial assistance from the Fund are being accepted by the Economic Development Corporation and as of this date, 39 discrete applications have been received. Those applications have been undergoing review for consistency with the statutory goals and priorities of the EDI Fund law, as well as for credit underwriting.

The first applications are nearing the completion of internal review by the EDC, FSC First, and the Prince George's County Economic Development Team and CAO. FAC review is a necessary step prior to the submission of applications to the County Council for notice or approval.

By law, the seven-member FAC shall be comprised of independent financial services professionals experienced and skilled in banking, finance, real estate, commercial development, accounting, or business. Three of the members were recommended to the CAO by the County Council and serve at their pleasure. The remaining four members were nominated by the CAO from the business community and from the general public, and serve at the pleasure of the CAO. The members shall serve for a term of 5 years with no compensation.

"The individuals selected to serve on the EDI Fund Financial Advisory Committee bring a broad range of backgrounds and experiences to the important task of protecting the County's interests and ensuring responsible stewardship of EDI funds," said Prince George's County Council Chair Andrea C. Harrison. (District – 5) "We look forward to their insight and recommendations as we move the County forward in the area of economic development with new opportunities for residents and businesses."

Members of the Financial Advisory Committee are:

Rochelle S. Andrews was raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She received her B.S. Degree in Management from Rutgers University, and her MBA in Marketing and HR Management from Vanderbilt University. While at Vanderbilt; Rochelle co-founded a class called the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC).

Earl W. Checkley A Controller in Deloitte Consulting's Federal Government Services Practice, Earl W. Checkley has almost 20 years of experience leading and transforming organizations in the military, commercial and public sectors. He currently serves as the Lead Controller for the Department of Defense Segment within the National Project Controller Practice.

Kimmey Doney is Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank and has 15 years of professional banking experience with Wells Fargo. This includes the role of Financial Advisor managing an investment portfolio valued at $25 million, a Financial Sales Leader for Prince George's County area with responsibilities over a banking portfolio valued at $440 Million and a District Manager of the Prince George's Community Banking Market with responsibilities over 8 branches and 100 employees. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Prince George's Financial Service Corporation Bankers' Task Force.

Mia N. Pittman has over 20 years of experience in banking and finance. She currently works with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a bank examiner with expertise in commercial loan review. Prior to FDIC, Ms. Pittman worked for BB&T as a commercial lender covering Prince George's County, MD. She has been an instructor at a community college in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania where she taught the inaugural classes of a well-regarded small business program for women.

Timothy Sanders is currently President, Capital Lending and Mortgage Group, a Capital Funding Group affiliated organization. Mr. Sanders joined Capital Funding Group (CFG) in October 2008, where he is responsible for managing the operations of the bridge loan business, Capital Lending and Mortgage Group. In addition, he currently oversees Capital Spend Management, a supply chain management company owned by CFG.

Dion W. Smith is a career banker with over 30 years of experience in the suburban Maryland market. He is currently a Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer with Old Line Bank located in Bowie, MD., where he is primarily responsible for business development and portfolio management. Prior to joining Old Line Bank in 2003, Mr. Smith held commercial loan officer positions with local banks in Montgomery and Anne Arundel Counties.

Maurice C. Taylor is Vice President for University Operations at Morgan State University in Baltimore. In addition to his responsibilities at Morgan, Dr. Taylor has served as a member of several task forces and work groups for the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Prior to moving to Bowie, he served for six years as the Chair of the Baltimore County Human Relations Commission.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association has announced the appointment of William Tompkins to the post of president and chief operating officer of the 69 year-old trade organization. The appointment was made last week during the NNPA's annual convention in Atlanta.

The selection of Tompkins culminates a nine-month search conducted by Carrington & Carrington, Ltd.

According to criteria that circulated throughout the industry, the new president will be charged with developing a new vision for the organization and implementing strategic plans and programs that serve the needs of the more than 200 Black community newspapers represented by NNPA. The trade group is commonly referred to as The Black Press of America.

Tompkins, 55, currently heads his own consultancy firm, Williams Tompkins Associates, in Los Angeles.

Before starting his company, Tompkins held positions at Eastman Kodak, including General Manager and Vice President of the Motion Picture Film Group and Chief Marketing Officer for the company's Entertainment Imaging division.

Prior to joining Kodak, Tompkins spent 19 years at The Washington Post, last serving as vice president of Marketing. Tompkins has a degree in economics from Tufts University, where he graduated magna cum laude and also earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Tompkins will report to Clovis Campbell, publisher of the Arizona Informant and chairman of the NNPA board.

In an address to the Conservative Black Forum hosted by Congressman Allen West (R-FL) focusing on the economic empowerment in the African American community, Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman of The RLJ Companies, called for a renewed national discussion on the growing wealth gap which he referred to as a "wealth gap Tsunami threatening African Americans."

Johnson cited a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, which concluded "The wealth gap between white and African American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation; the racial wealth gap increased by $75,000, from $20,000 to $95,000; the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households; and at least 35 percent of African Americans have no assets."

In response to this compelling national crisis, Johnson stated that, "We must admit the harsh reality of a history of institutionalized racism and economic discrimination against African Americans is the primary cause of wealth disparity between Black and white Americans" and "we must be willing to talk about race recognition remedies at the highest levels of government as well as between Black and white Americans."

In his remarks to the Forum, Johnson listed several race recognition policy initiatives that could be discussed. For example, encourage majority-owned businesses to invest in black-owned companies by deferring the taxes on the economic gain similar to the FCC "tax certificate program" which motivated major media companies to sell to minorities and create a Treasury-backed fund to securitize short-term borrowing or emergency loans made by minority banks or other lending institutions to Black families provided these loans are marketed and made in a regulated and transparent manner. The securitized loans would encourage banks and lenders to make short-term or emergency borrowing available at reasonable rates and end "payday" lending as we know it today and break the cycle of borrowing at outrageous interest rates.

"Something has to be done to recalibrate our economic system to address these problems. We need the political courage to propose race-based remedies based on the disparity caused by past and present race discrimination. In the next 25 to 30 years, the majority of Americans will be black and Hispanic. There is a compelling national interest in addressing racial disparity and if we are to be a successful nation and compete globally, we must ensure that all Americans are given an opportunity to fully participate in the U.S. economic system," he concluded.

Jerry Sandusky, the former head coach at Penn State who was convicted this weekend on 45 counts of child molestation, has been placed under a suicide watch, according to reports.

The 68-year-old Sandusky, who was revered as a pillar of the Penn State community, was jailed immediately after the jury delivered its verdict on June 22. He was found guilty of molesting at least eight boys over a 15-yer period, and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"It's hard to judge character on the stand, because you don't know these kids," one of the jurors said in an interview. "But most were very credible – I would say all. I looked at him during the reading of the verdict and just the look on his face. No real emotion," the juror continued, "because he knew it was true."

Among the boys who accused Sandusky of sexual abuse was his adopted son, Matt Sandusky.

"During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky's abuse," Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici wrote in the statement. "At Matt's request, we immediately arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators."

Sandusky is scheduled to be sentenced in about three months. But his attorneys plan on appealing the convictions, saying they didn't have adequate time to prepare their case.

For the second consecutive year, the Human Rights Campaign has cited Howard University Hospital -- one of the nation's leading teaching medical institutions -- a leader in the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients and their families.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who was joined at a press conference earlier this week by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, made announced on Howard's campus, where other local health care organizations were also lauded.

"I commend the LGBT and healthcare communities for the progress made, and I am proud to be part of an administration that has a historic record of accomplishment for the LGBT community," Sebelius said.

The other area health care leaders include George Washington Hospital, Sibley Hospital, National Rehabilitation Hospital, The Specialty Hospital of Washington, Adventist Healthcare and Bon Secours Health System.

Howard was among 234 hospitals named as leaders from the nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide. The number of leaders with perfect scores increased from the previous year, but not one hospital in 18 states responded at all to the survey.

The index rated the hospitals in four areas.

 The hospital's patient non-discrimination policy is publicly available and includes the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."

 The hospital's visitation policy explicitly grants same sex couples, partners, spouses and significant others the same access as different-sex couples and grants their minor children the same access as children of different-sex couples.

 The hospital's employment non-discrimination policy includes the term" sexual orientation" and "gender identity."

 The hospital provides training for key staff members in LGBT patient-centered care.

Dr. Wayne Frederick, provost and chief academic officer for Howard University and formerly senior vice president for Health Sciences, accepted the honor on behalf of the university and said the hospital is proud to be designated as a leader.

"Howard University Health Sciences is committed to improving patient-centered care by removing all barriers to care, whether they involve ensuring patients' rights to determine their health care decision-maker, or training the health care workforce to provide equitable treatment and service to all patients," Frederick said.

Indiana Fever leading scorer Tamika Catching [15 points] challenges Washington leading scorer Crystal Langhorne [22 points] on Friday, June 15 at the Verizon Center in Northwest. The 67-66 win was the second at home for the Mystics this season. /Photo by John E. De Freitas