Aside from my attraction to history, the payoff from this framing comes in Woodson’s profound words at the time of Negro History Week’s launch in 1926, when he said, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world.”

That history is full of hard truths – ugly, divisive ones that must be presented not from the prism of the oppressors, but by those who suffered from such oppression. It's only in the unvarnished realities of past transgressions that we can truly appreciate, and celebrate, the progress America has made.

Major inflection points – the Emancipation Proclamation, Brown vs. The Board of Education, Rosa Parks on the bus, Dr. King’s “Dream”, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – are bronzed amidst the cathedral halls of America's history; though any guided tour is still far too short, and leaves you feeling that there’s so much work left to do.

That’s because there is.

Black History Month is a time to reflect, re-engage (or engage for the first time) with the Black community, and re-energize ourselves for the marathon ahead. Each year, as I listen and watch the stories, and remember my upbringing in the 1960s Segregated South, I measure my capacity to affect change, where my words or deeds could do the most good.

Following the death of George Floyd last May, I wrote these words that came from a place of pain – but also one of passion and purpose to achieve sustainable, generational change. It’s not lost on me that I’m a Black President and CEO of the nation’s oldest, most storied institution serving a predominantly white financial services industry. I understand that I have a unique platform to voice concerns and provide perspectives. Yet, those perspectives, and that platform, only carry power if operationalized to work with the industry, inspiring leaders with conviction, not condemnation.

I’m a Black man who grew up with very little, yet opportunities afforded me by white mentors and sponsors opened avenues to fulfill career aspirations and provide for my family. I’m forever thankful – but I’m not a prodigy; there are countless others eager for similar opportunities to make a difference and demonstrate their expertise.

I believe sustainable, generational change in Black communities comes by identifying the root cause of pervasive wealth inequality and pinpointing the tangible, community-focused solutions needed to narrow the racial wealth gap. The American College Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality sees this gap as a matter of economic justice – where underserved communities have equal opportunities to prosper and live a fulfilling life as they define it.

The wealth disparity is real, and it’s significant. The Black community has faced institutional barriers to financial security and wealth for decades, leaving a massive gap between those benefiting from the current system, and those being left behind. I believe the right solutions integrate community needs with business goals (working with not around the financial services industry). Financial services, alongside nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and broader corporate America, must view the Black community as an investment, and focus on “doing well by doing good.” And that starts by humbly meeting Black America where it is – in a tenuous position on America’s financial food chain, understanding its concerns, embracing its communities, and coming together to develop the products and services needed to make change last.

With this construct, I believe the marathon will hit important mile-makers – those milestones that strengthen the successes standing alongside the necessary truths of past transgressions. During Black History Month, I'll again measure my capacity to affect change – but this year, I’ll do it in part through The College’s Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality. This Center – the only of its kind in financial services – aligns with The College’s mission and our vision for the future.

We can leverage our relationships with all financial services sectors, a growing number of community and private foundations, governmental contacts, and corporate executives to write a new chapter in the history books: Sustainable, Economic Change for Black America.

And we’ll do it together.

As I wrote in my President’s Report letter to The College community, “Over the last 11 months, we have all had moments of absolute exhaustion. We have not moved much, yet in many ways we have never moved more – wearing many hats of responsibility, even if we were wearing the same pants. In those times of fatigue, we have all sought refuge in peace whether that was in a good book, some soothing music, perhaps a roaring fire, or even the serenity of the stars. Spending some time with the sky is both astrological and spiritual – it is an open invitation to hold conversations with higher powers or marvel at the constellations that canopy our world. Stars cannot visibly shine without darkness – the darker the night, the brighter the sky. I believe this is symbolic of our journey through one of the darkest years in our nation’s history.”

The 2020 President’s Report also weaved a tale that celebrated our history, while continuing to make it. As a 93-year-old institution, The College has a rich story to share of the visionaries who helped shape The College today, and the bold vision we have for an even bigger, brighter future.

There are also several stories of significant expansion – whether it’s a greater focus on philanthropy through programming and scholarship, fresh faces helping The College enhance the student experience, or a new Center of Excellence to create sustainable, economic justice for underserved communities across America. The College will always align our work to a clear mission to deliver applied financial knowledge and education, but our reach must go beyond financial advisors to include public accountants, estate planning attorneys, for- and nonprofit executives, and consumers. Financial knowledge is an empowering tool that can have such an effervescent, halo effect when not restricted to one audience.

The College is about benefiting society – and this President’s Report is a good illustration of how we continue to re-imagine our path to success, even in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. We want to engage on the conversations of the day, giving meaning to financial markets and the issues that matter.

Go here to experience our stories, watch a message from The College’s executive leadership, and download the full issue.

The inspirational and operational takeaways filled a *second* book – the first was filled by Scott and Nick Tedesco, President and CEO of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, during our first fireside chat on March 17.

It’s an unfortunate fact that many underserved and underrepresented communities are still struggling to forge the relationships that open the access and opportunities to meaningful community and economic resources. Tony, Scott, and I discussed how economic mobility and wealth-building programs strengthen these communities by increasing economic growth and fostering a more diverse workforce.

The Inspiring Leaders in Philanthropy web series is emblematic of The College’s commitment to philanthropic education – working with financial advisors, gift and trust officers, community and private foundation leaders, and back office professionals on how to discuss philanthropic intent, determine the appropriate platforms to empower philanthropic giving, and develop robust philanthropic plans that are motivational and executable. The College’s Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) is our fastest growing professional designation program – engaging philanthropic professionals in a robust educational curriculum that delivers the strategies and skills needed to advise clients on charitable giving and guide charitable organizations in their fundraising efforts. You can watch my conversation with Tony and Scott below.

Applied knowledge means practical, relevant, rigorous coursework that delivers utility benefits that increase technical acumen and business benefits that teach you how to communicate the complex with clients and implement it in planning and product decisions.

In this installment of Conversations with the President, I walk through a typical professional’s lifelong learning journey with The College, from the foundational to the advanced knowledge needed to establish a career, grow a business, and serve a client's best interests.

In this installment of Conversation with the President, I explain the mission of the Center, future initiatives to address racial and wealth inequality, and what financial services professionals and the industry at large can do to help.

In this installment of “Conversations with the President,” I take a look back at where the profession and The College has been throughout our history and where I see the profession, and The College, going in an ever-changing landscape.

Some 1,300 miles southwest, Tulsa’s Greenwood District was built "for Black people, by Black people" just after the turn of the 20th century. Black entrepreneurs flocked to Greenwood Avenue, believing there was economic strength in numbers. By pooling resources, "Black Wall Street" flourished, even if its dwellers became increasingly isolated and segregated by a railroad, where standing on the wrong side of the tracks put a successful Black in the crosshairs of Jim Crow oppression.

Unlike Wall Street, where success brought greater access, opportunities, and the early formation of patriarchal dynasties, success on Black Wall Street brought suspicion, jealously, rage, racism, and eventually riots.

While the Greenwood District burned, the Financial District prospered. Fifty years after the Greenwood Massacre, growing up in the segregated South far from lower Manhattan, my eyes saw disparate Americas simply while tagging along as my father drove my mother to work. Now, post-segregation, and a century after Greenwood went up in flames, race still defines the individual perspectives of American exceptionalism.

Last June, following the death of George Floyd on my birthday, I shared my thoughts on America’s relationship with race – a complicated, imperfect journey of divergent interests, bouts of abject failure, but also real progress for some Blacks, who have risen to positions of power and prestige often through the guidance and advocacy of white mentors and sponsors.

Yet, success has still reached too few. Those stories are the exception.

Since then, these injustices have continued against Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and others based on ethnicity, gender, economic standing, and sexual orientation. Despite weeks-long marches, sermons preaching peace, and corporate America’s resonance to this national issue, cruelty remains in vogue, and wealth disparities remain fixed in a system still benefitting the same glad-handing, access-selling, and multi-generational privilege. Wealth still begets wealth.

Wealth touches so many parts of equality – wages, homeownership, community policing, and access to quality healthcare, as well as long-term financial literacy and planning. It’s a big problem, but as evidenced by the above tale of two cities, it’s not new. Solutions always seem driven by a PR newswire, or a success story to share with shareholders, and they’re typically funded by fleeting capital and organized in silos.

In the months following the national awakening to these issues, I and our team at The American College of Financial Services did a lot of soul searching and a lot of conversing with each other, our colleagues, and our industry peers. We were intentionally deliberate and thoughtful in building a research-driven, applicable, and executable plan to drive sustainable, economic change in underserved and underrepresented communities. I thank our entire College community for their work, support, and encouragement, as well as The College’s Board of Trustees, President’s Roundtable, and President’s Advisory Council, which have not only offered strategic counsel, but have opened their networks to help us engage in productive dialogue across the financial services industry and given of their treasures.

As an accredited, non-profit institution serving an industry responsible for fostering the generational wealth-building of predominantly white families, it’s been fascinating, and heartening, to see the industry’s circuitous, complex reckoning with its role in the wealth gap, but also to hear leading voices share their voyages to effect lasting, economic change for the underserved and to uplift diverse perspectives in this profession.

Many of these leaders believe in our plan – a development that continues to yield reaffirmation and forward momentum just one year after our team’s first internal discussion. In that time, we’ve achieved so much, including:

• The creation of Four Steps Forward, a big, bold plan to promote upward mobility and wealth building, starting first with Black communities across America. It’ll define an approach that we’ll apply to other groups in need.
• The formation of The American College Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality, which is destined to become the flagship center for research, thought leadership, curriculum and course development, programming, and scholarships aimed at closing the wealth gap and cultivating lasting relationships between financial services and all underserved groups.
• The hiring of the Center’s inaugural Executive Director, Karim Hill, who brings decades of financial services and community-corporate partnership experience investing capital to uplift underrepresented and underserved populations.
• The development of a robust, engaging website, www.theamericancollege.edu/equality, to broadly articulate the Center’s path forward and engage partners who will assist us along the way.
• A partnership with The Society for Financial Education and Professional Development to amplify financial education and economic mobility programs with the next generation of Black leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
• The launch of a research project on trust between Black women and financial services, with a preliminary report expected later this summer.
• The beginning of our work on the curriculum for an executive leadership program. We plan to enroll our first cohort for a Q1 2022 start.

We’re just scratching the surface, but we aren’t in a rush. I’m as eager as anyone to narrow the gap, but I’m more interested in the long-term solutions that close it. Today’s disparities weren’t caused by a few bad apples or propagated by political whims; they’re so deeply embedded in our system, that Band-Aids are no more than concealer.

To follow the clarion call of former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, we must express the poised urgency that moves us forward with intention. To actually “do better,” we must embrace that there’s no other choice. That in America, we can’t allow some to traverse sidewalks as an avenue to success, while others of different cultures and creeds lay face down in their footprints.

We can’t be okay with unequal pay for equal work. We can’t shrug our shoulders at the real, lasting effects that wealth disparities have on educational disparities, longevity, generational divides, and public trust. And we can’t expect to fix all of this in a week, month, or year.

Sustainable change takes time. As I wrote last June, "As a nation, we start conversations on race I don’t think we ever intend on finishing. This time must be different."

One year later, I believe it is.

And that is just one cemetery. Dotting countrysides and hugging cityscapes sit the plots of military veterans, bonded by service and unique in their stories. Many were called to service, with high school dropouts linking arms with Rhodes scholars, those with generational linkages to servitude covering for their fellow cadets. Military members are truly all in this together.

We owe these military men and women such thanks and grace; both those who have returned home from war, and those who perished in service to something bigger than themselves. Memorial Day is a calendar reminder that we all need to put the small things in perspective of those who fought the battles for our freedom, safety, and security.

The American College Center for Veterans Affairs aims to do its part through educational support and career opportunities in the financial services industry. Last year, while restricted in our in-person fundraising by the COVID-19 pandemic, 249 donors—including 112 first-time donors—contributed to the Center and helped us award 250 scholarships, which was a 100% increase in scholarships from the previous year! Many of the Center’s donors were inspired by Campaign: Gratitude, a video storytelling series that told the captivating, heroic tales of military heroes who have returned home to earn rewarding careers in financial services, all thanks to the generosity and support of our donors, and the work of our Center and College family.

This year, the 7th annual Clambake and Soldier-Citizen Award returns with a virtual event on September 9, and a Veterans Symposium is being planned for November 10. We thank you in advance for helping transform the lives of our active-duty service members, veterans, and their spouses.

This weekend, as we celebrate America and all its beauty, remember those who stood, and still stand, on the front lines to forever cement the majesty that is America.

Happy Memorial Day.

Instead of turning this note into a history lesson (here’s a great recitation), let me talk briefly about what the day signifies for us as The American College of Financial Services, and for our nation, moving forward.

First, it is a day to remember. As we frame our work through the Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality, we always reflect on the days of slavery and freedom from that enslavement, but also on the fleeting change in the time since.

Second, it is a day to re-engage. Take some time to listen to public figures and community leaders “…celebrate, educate, and agitate,” in the words of historian Mitch Kachun. Find a personal or professional thread that you can latch onto to help create lasting change in Black communities.

Third, it is a day to re-affirm. The College, through Four Steps Forward, must re-affirm our commitment to the cause. While many have called Juneteenth “America’s second Independence Day,” that independence has not yet equaled justice, opportunity, and equity. That must change, and our work, with partnerships across the financial services industry, will push us closer to those goals.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” So, we remember, re-engage, re-affirm, and move forward not with the belief that true equality is preordained, but that it comes through continuous struggle.

While we haven’t always lived up to those ideals, we’ve never walked away from them. The American College of Financial Services continues to do its part by providing financial knowledge and education to financial and nonprofit leaders, and through our Centers of Excellence, by promoting financial well-being and supporting initiatives that help uplift underrepresented and underserved communities.

As former President Harry S. Truman once said, “America was built on courage, on imagination, and on an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”

We, as Americans, have shown our resolve and collective might throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and we demonstrate that same mettle and might each day to uplift all Americans.

We are a nation of dreamers and pragmatists, imperfect and yet still embarking on the never-ending pursuit of that perfect union.

Enjoy your holiday with freedom, family, and friends.