New York, NY. - April 26, 2007 - National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial today announced that the 38th Annual Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP) Conference will be held from June 13-15 at the Hilton Hotel located within the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.

This year's three-day event, entitled "From Success to Significance," will be sponsored by JP Morgan Chase, UPS and Unilever. Confirmed conference speakers so far include Morial, former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, JP Morgan Chase Foundation President Kimberly Davis and NAFEO President Lezlie Baskerville.

"In its 38th year, BEEP brings together a unique and outstanding mix of African-American professionals to play an important role in the development of future leaders at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs)," Morial said. "By giving students networking and mentoring opportunities with successful black professionals, we provide them the tools as well as the inspiration necessary to excel in the real world after they graduate."

Developed in 1969 through a Ford Foundation grant, BEEP has brought thousands of visiting professors from over 1,000 corporations, government agencies and academia to advise and mentor over 750,000 students on 84 campuses all over the nation.

"Leadership is what defines the Black Executive Exchange Program, with leaders from all walks of life including business, technology, government, marketing and entrepreneurship-sharing their knowledge with future generations," said Mark V. Monteverdi, vice president of BEEP. "We are extremely pleased and excited to welcome the numerous corporations and government agencies, faculty, students and participants who have continued their support of BEEP."

This year's conference will focus more heavily on leadership training than in previous years - with Leadership BEEP, a four-day intensive program sponsored by The Goldman Sachs Foundation and BP, which is designed to give students the opportunity to evaluate their leadership styles through self-assessment tools, workshops and interactive sessions with executives and student peers.

"This is exactly the kind of training that keeps BEEP on the cutting edge, with an eye always looking to the future," Morial observed. "It's exactly what will take BEEP from successful to significant."

Leadership BEEP is also expected to serve as a prototype for a future training program targeted at black executives looking to take the next step in their career path.

In addition to two town hall meetings, one of them addressing the topic of leadership at HBCUs, and numerous panel discussions and workshops, a major highlight of the conference is the annual student-case competition, sponsored by the CIA, in which students analyze, rationalize and argue cases before an audience of their peers.

Three-member teams from Alabama A&M University, Claflin University, Clark Atlanta University, Elizabeth City State University, Florida Memorial University, Hampton University, Howard University, Mississippi Valley State University, Morris College, Savannah State University, Tennessee State University and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, among other HBCUs, will compete for a $1,000 cash prize each and roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines.

Other conference highlights include: The 9th Annual Jerry Bartow Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament at the Legends at Orange Lake Resort, sponsored by United Parcel Service, and a closing banquet and awards ceremony featuring Morial as dinner speaker.

During the school year, BEEP, which was originally developed as a way to provide black college students with role models from business and government and to enhance HBCUs curricula, provides a variety of ways to engage students in career exploration and planning. They range from two-day seminars to semester-long courses for credit and include:

• Accredited Lecture Series (ALS) -a semester-long series integrated into an on-going course delivered by a different executive each week.
• Career Awareness and Planning Seminar (CAPS)- which consists two days of career planning exercises, workshops, counseling and lectures that places emphasis on the selection of realistic career choices, the charting of career paths, resume preparation, and the development of good interviewing skills.
• Special Business Seminar (SBS) focuses on social and economic issues and topical events that affect business, industry and government.
• Innovations for Women uses a team of female executives and professionals to familiarize students with the traditional and non-traditional roles of women in the workforce.

For more information about BEEP, contact Ricky Clemons at 212-558-5371. To register for the conference visit www.nul.org

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