Sunday, December 27, 2015

National Society of Black Engineers Appoints Constance Thompson and Stanton Hill to Executive Positions

Constance Thompson

Stanton Hill

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has appointed two new members to the Society’s Executive Leadership Team. Constance Thompson, formerly senior  manager for Diversity & Inclusion for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), has joined NSBE as director of External and Government Affairs. Stanton Hill, NSBE’s new director of Finance and Accounting, joins the Society after serving the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The appointments were effective Nov. 30.
NSBE, with more than 31,000 collegiate, pre-collegiate and professional members, is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the U.S. Founded in 1975, the Society is dedicated to moving black students and professionals from underrepresentation to overrepresentation in the field of engineering. Hill, Thompson and the other members of NSBE’s Executive Leadership Team lead the professional staff at NSBE World Headquarters, which implements the policies and initiatives of the college students and young professionals comprising NSBE’s National Executive Board.
 “The National Executive Board is pleased with the value being added to NSBE’s human resources with the hiring of staff members of this caliber. We welcome Stanton and Constance to the NSBE family,” says NSBE National Chair Neville Green, the Society’s top-ranking officer, a senior majoring in chemical engineering at the City University of New York.
 “We are thrilled to have Constance and Stanton in these key positions,” says NSBE Executive Director Karl W. Reid, Ed.D. “Their skills, experience and talent will be vital as we pursue the primary goal of NSBE’s new 10-year strategic plan. The U.S. needs a big increase in its number of black engineering graduates. The nation’s demand for engineers is growing, while the percentage of African Americans entering the engineering workforce is shrinking. NSBE’s goal is to increase the annual number of African-American bachelor’s degree recipients from 3,501 to 10,000, by 2025.”
 Thompson is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of NSBE’s strategic government policy and initiatives. She will advance NSBE’s mission and strategic plan, by collaborating with the Society’s governance, staff and liked-minded strategic partners to position NSBE as an indispensable stakeholder in advancing STEM education policy and workforce practices for blacks in engineering.
An example of this will be seen in Thompson’s management of the groundbreaking 50K Coalition. Designed to serve as a unified voice in changing the perception and persistence of underrepresented groups in engineering education and careers, the group has established a bold and unprecedented goal of producing 50,000 diverse engineering graduates annually by 2025 — a number that represents a 66 percent increase in the current annual graduation rate of Bachelor of Science in engineering degree students. Now serving more than 70,000 pre-collegiate, collegiate and professional members, the coalition is led by the executive directors of NSBE, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and will host a national strategy summit in April of 2015.
Before her tenure at ASCE, Thompson served as manager for Diversity Programs with the American Chemical Society and manager for Recruitment and Diversity Recruitment at Cornell University. Thompson earned Bachelor of Science degrees in political science and French from Virginia State University and holds a Cornell Certified Diversity Professional certification from Cornell University. A well-known and effective leader among engineering societies, she has served on numerous boards and committees that align with NSBE’s mission and strategic plan, including the American Association of Engineering Societies Diversity Working Group, as co-chair; the Greater Washington American Society of Association Executives Diversity & Inclusion Committee, as a board member; the American Association for the Advancement of Science Human Rights Coalition Service to the STEM Community Working Group, as co-chair; the Society of Women Engineers  Multicultural Committee; and the Women in Engineering Pro Active Group Diversity Committee.
As director of finance and accounting, Hill is responsible for planning, directing and supporting NSBE’s financial and accounting practices as well as its relationships with banking institutions, financial and investment committees of the National Executive Board, and the broader financial community.
Hill has nearly 10 years of cross-functional experience centered on finance, project management and program execution. During his tenure at UNCF, he held financial, strategic and analytical responsibilities that included the management of the annual operating development budget, forecasting, and process redesign initiatives for multiple departments. He designed and implemented budget and cash-flow processes to manage $30 million in grant funding and a $12-million operating budget in support of UNCF’s development operations. Most recently, he served as UNCF’s senior business analyst, forecasting financial performance and engaging in strategic planning to reshape the organization’s fundraising activities and unearth growth opportunities. Hill has a B.A. in business administration management from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. in innovation entrepreneurship and high technology from Northeastern University. He also has Project Management Professional and Certified Non-Profit Accounting Professional designations.

ABOUT NSBE
Founded in 1975, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the United States. With more than 31,000 members and more than 300 chapters in the U.S. and abroad, NSBE supports and promotes the aspirations of collegiate and pre-collegiate students and technical professionals in engineering and technology. NSBE’s mission is “to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” For more information, visit www.nsbe.org.


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