Four Darden alumni make magazine’s list of young African-American MBAs

Virginia Business
August 2006

Four graduates of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business have made the list of “Top 50 Under 50” African-American corporate executives compiled by Black MBA magazine.

The four alumni on the list are: Thomas Baltimore, president of RLJ Development in Bethesda, Md.; Bryan Simms, senior vice president of Lehman Brothers in New York; Warren Thompson, president, chairman and CEO of Thompson Hospitality Corp. in Herndon; and William Wright, managing director of Morgan Stanley in New York.

Executives on the list were selected based on their positions in a publicly traded or private company, their level of responsibility in managing significant revenues and their track record in generating revenues or improving operational performance.

Darden officials hope that having so many alums on the list will help encourage minorities to consider studying business. Currently, underrepresented populations, including African-Americans, make up just 6 percent of the student enrollment at Darden, according to school spokesman Ken White.

He adds that Darden is working to increase minority enrollment by partnering with other schools and MBA groups and undertaking its own recruitment efforts. Darden recently was host to 30 high school students for a three-week Leadership Education and Development program.

“It’s all about the pipeline now, drilling deeper and deeper to attract students to the MBA,” White stated.