Recap of #UrbanTechWeekend Conference Kickoff
On September 26, 2014, Urban Tech Weekend officially kicked off its annual conference in Houston, Texas. Since the inception of National Black Information Technology Leadership Organization (NBITLO) by Andrew West, NBITLO has demonstrated measurable success and growth over the years in helping to equip and prepare young black Information Technology Professionals, and IT Leaders.While in the process, NBITLO has created a nationwide support network of Technology Leaders, has helped numerous African-Americans that have an interest in professional technology leadership careers and executive technology leadership positions.
“When I first wanted a seat at the table, I couldn’t get one.” According to today’s Keynote speaker Natalie M. Cofield, who continued by stating, build it, and they will come.
NBITLO achieved its building blocks by facilitating yearly programs and an annual conference symposium (such as Urban Tech Weekend) where West recruits industry experts who share their relevant experiences, in an information-sharing atmosphere with the goal of enabling success, mentors, thought-partners and empowerment.
Additional speakers and panelist at Urban Tech Weekend Conference included; John D. Calhoun, Ph.D., Dr. Crystal Jenson, Mike Green (co-founder of ScaleUp America), Janel Martinez (Content Producer BlackWeb 2.0, aintilatina founder + EIC, Brit Fitzpatrick (founder Mentor Me) and Brian Tippens JD (Chief Diversity Officer at HP). Some of the topics covered included; Urban STEM Innovation & Technology, Women in STEM and Technology Leadership and Urban Economics & Entrepreneurship.
Urban Tech Weekend was made possible by MakerSquare and Robert Half Technology. The Global Innovation Hack-A-thon was coordinated by Developers Doing Development and Covello.co. For more information on Urban Tech Weekend click here. Below are tweets from the conference:
