For  release:  Aug. 17, 2001

Contact:    
Orlando deBruce 510-268-3700
John W. Templeton  415-820-1629
Michelle Wilson 410-244-7101
     

Tyrone Taborn, USBE & Information Technology Publisher on 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology list 

    CHICAGO, IL, Aug. 17, 2001 -- The 2001 list of the 50 Most Important
African-Americans in Technology demonstrates the critical role that blacks
play in the growth of cutting edge industries.     Selected by the editors
of blackmoney.com and souloftechnology.net, the list is part of a campaign
to double African-American employment in technology and technology-related
jobs from 500,000 to 1 million.

    Howard University's School of Business will host the selectees in a
special event on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2001, which will include daytime
colloquia on achieving that goal and a televised discussion with top policy
makers in the evening.

    "For as long as 45 years, these standouts have pushed the boundaries of
science and engineering while demonstrating a sincere, heartfelt commitment
to opening opportunities to those often overlooked," said John William
Templeton, executive editor of blackmoney.com and souloftechnology.net.

    Profiles of the honorees will be included in the fifth edition of The
Black Students Internet Guide, distributed to 9,000 schools around the
country that serve 80 percent of the black students nationally.   A campaign
to recruit technology volunteers at those schools kicks off with the Oct. 20
event.

    Richard Parsons, co-COO of AOL Time Warner Inc. in New York, was judged
the most important of the selectees for the scale of the enterprise he
manages and his extraordinary community activities in Harlem and around the
country, including a new $100 million AOL fund to support minority
technology ventures.

    Gen. Lester Lyles, commander of the U.S. Air Force Material Command
based in Ohio, represents the important role that the armed forces have
played in providing exposure to training and experience in technology,
particularly to the 422,000 blacks currently serving, and the Department of
Defense's role in fostering black technology entrepreneurship.

    For instance, Julia Johnson, vice president of MilCom in Orlando, FL,
chairs the Governor's Information Technology Task Force in Florida after
heading the Public Service Commission for two years, helping to shape policy
for the state's technological development.

    Fourteen selectees are from the Washington, D.C. area, reflecting the
success of black entrepreneurs in leveraging government contracts into
substantial firms. They are: FCC Chair Michael Powell; Noah Samora, CEO,
WorldSpace Inc; Dr. Cecile Barker and Lt. Gen. Emmitt Paige of OAO Corp;
Greg Pratt, CEO of OAO Technologies; Dr. Samuel Metters of Metters
Industries; Dr. Maurice Tose, TeleCommunications Systems Inc.; Rodney Hunt, CEO of RS Information Systems; Angela Mason, CEO, ITS Services;  Dr. Philip                                                                          Emeagwali of emeagwali.com;  Emmitt McHenry, CEO of Netcom Solutions;  Lori Perine, CEO of Interpretech; Tyrone Taborn, CEO of Career Communications Group; and Anita Brown of Black Geeks Online.

    Ten selectees are from California, heart of the technology boom.  John
W. Thompson, CEO, Symantec; Houston Williams, CEO, Pacific Network Supply;Roy Clay, CEO, Rod-L; Michael Fields, CEO, The Fields Group;  LeBaron Woodyard, California Community Colleges; Mike Beasley, MESA; Dixie Garr, vice president, Cisco; Eric Kelly, Maxtor; Dr. Ron Goldsberry, CEO, Carstation; and finance expert Virginia Walker.

    Five hail from New York;  Parsons, Cooper Union President Dr. George
Campbell;  Dr. John Slaughter, president of NACME; Dr. Shirley Jackson,
president of Renassalaer Polytechnic and Dr. Mark Dean, IBM.

    Four are from Massachusetts:  Al Zollar, CEO, Lotus Development/IBM;
Dorothy Terrell, COO, Natural Microsystems; Dr. Bryant York, Northeastern
University; and Dr. Philip Clay, MIT.

    Four hail from Texas: Robert Knowling, CEO, Internet Access Corp;
Vincent Smith, CEO, CyNet Yvonne Jackson, senior vice president, Compaq
Computer; and Thurmond Woodard, vice president, Dell Computer.

    Three are from the Chicago area: Stan Washington, technology director,
McDonalds;  Gale Sayers, CEO, Sayers; Barry Cooper, CEO, Black Voices.

    Two each are from Philadelphia  and Greensboro, NC:   Earl Pace Jr., CEO
of Pace Data Systems and John H. Thompson of lingoworks.com; and John
Taylor, CEO of Cinerge' and  Carter Bing of N.C. A&T State University.

    Along with Johnson, Dr. Dhyana Ziegler, assistant vice president for
instructional technology at Florida A&M University, hails from Florida.

blackmoney.com and souloftechnology.net are operated by San
Francisco-based Electron Access Inc., a content aggregator of educational,
news and business information founded by Templeton in 1988.  The company's
books, web sites and software are regarded as sources of expertise on
African-American utilization of technology.

Read the bios