Tom Dowling
(863) 297-1051

PCC to Host Jan. 9 M. L. King Celebration

12/17/2007: Polk Community College will hold its 4th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Breakfast on Jan. 9, 8 am in the Student Center on the Winter Haven campus.

The event is open to the public. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP the Office of Equity & Diversity by calling 297-1095 or e-mailing vbaker@polk.edu (please indicate MLK Breakfast in the subject line).

The celebration will honor the memory and accomplishments of Dr. King. Guest speaker will be Beatrice Louissaint, who is President and CEO of the Florida Regional Minority Business Council. The council is one of 39 affiliates comprising the National Minority Supplier Development Council, which has 3,500 corporate members, including 60% of the Fortune 500 companies.

The Council acts as a liaison between corporate members and minority business enterprises throughout south Florida and fosters the growth of minority businesses. In 2006, the FRMBC, through its corporate members, was directly responsible for over $1 billion in products and services procured from minority-owned businesses.

Prior to her tenure at the FRMBC, Ms. Louissaint served for eight years as the Executive Director of the Black Business Association.

Ms. Louissaint has helped shape state-wide policy for minority business advancement. She was hand picked by Governor Bush as Vice Chair of the One Florida Accountability Commission. In 1994, she was appointed to the Steering Committee for the first Summit of the Americas. That year, she was named “Advocate of the Year” by the Minority Business Development Center. In 1997, she chaired the Miami-Dade Minority Business Advisory Board during the County’s transition from minority to small business construction program.

She is on the board of the Orange Bowl Committee, Miami Dade College Foundation and the South Florida Medical Foundation. Previously, Ms. Louissaint served as a board member of the Beacon Council, the National Black Business Council, chaired Dade County's Women and Minority Business Enterprise Advisory Board and is the founder of the Haitian American Women's Coalition.

Ms. Louissaint is a graduate of Barry University and is currently an MBA student at the Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University