On Wednesday, December 9th, 2010 the Council of Urban Professionals welcomed new Board Officers! Our newly elected leadership is poised and ready to continue pushing forward the mission of the organization and looks forward to connecting, empowering and mobilizing urban professionals throughout the state.

Take a moment to read about your new officers and welcome them into their new position!

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James E. Francis – Board Chair

Founder and CEO, Paradigm Asset Management

Previously, James worked at Oppenheimer & Company, Shearson Lehman Hutton and IBM Corporation. He received his B.A. from Morehouse College.

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Maryana Iskander- Vice Chair

Chief Operating Officer, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Previously, Maryana served as Adviser to the President of Rice University. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Rice University, an M.Sc. from Oxford University (while a Rhodes scholar), and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

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Beverly Anderson – Treasurer

Vice President, American Express Co.

Previously, Beverly was Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning at Fleet Credit Card Services. Prior to that, she was a Principal at Novantas and Vice President at First USA/Bank One. She received her B.S. in Business from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and received a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

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Adaora Udoji – Secretary

Managing Director, The Boshia Group

Adaora was most recently Host of the National Public Radio show “The Takeaway”. Adaora is a former Foreign Correspondent at ABC news and Anchor at CourtTV. She earned her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Michigan and J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

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