Host: Valeria Lee
The moderator for "Black Issues Forum" is Valeria Lee, program Development Officer for Z. Smith Reynold Foundation.

Reverend Paul L.Anderson
Minister, Baptist Grove Church
Raleigh, NC

Ms. Andrea Lynnette Harris
President, North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development
Durham, NC

Dr. Nat Irvin
Author/Columnist, Vice Chancellor for Development and University Relations
Winston-Salem State University
Winston-Salem, NC

Dr. James H. Johnson, Jr.
Ph.D., Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

Ms. Eula Mathis
Family Counselor/Social Worker, Discovery Resources and Enterprises
Raleigh, NC

Mr. Maceo K. Sloan, CFA
President, Sloan Financial Group Inc.
Durham, NC

Reverend Paul L. Anderson

Rev. Paul L. Anderson was and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he accepted his calling and became licensed into the Gospel Ministry. He received a Bachelor or Business Administration degree with a concentration in Management Science from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, North Carolina, where he was very active in the Campus Ministry. Upon graduation from NCCU, he participated in the Consumer Associate Program of First Union National bank of North Carolina. He was later ordained through the Wake Missionary Baptist Association.

Rev. Anderson received a Master of Divinity degree with Christian Education from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He currently serves as pastor of Baptist Grove Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, having previously served as pastor of Rock Spring Baptist Church in Creedmoor, NC. His is an active participant on the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Inc., serving as Editor of the "Baptist Informer" (the convention's newspaper), Dean for the Congress of Christian Education, and a member of the Prison and Evangelism committees. He has also served on the faculty of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Congress of Christian Education. He is a member of the Ordaining Council for the Wake Missionary Baptist Association, and currently serves as the President for the Raleigh/Wake Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

An active member of his community, Rev. Anderson serves on the City of Raleigh Human Relations and Human Resources Advisory Commission. He is a member of the Boards of Director for the NC Affiliate of the American Diabetes Association, and the Method and Tuttle Community Day Care Center in Raleigh. He is also a volunteer Chaplain for the Raleigh Police Department. He holds life memberships in the NAACP and the North Carolina Central University Alumni Association.

Rev. Anderson is married to Betina Morris-Anderson and they live in Raleigh, NC.

Andrea Lynnette Harris

Andrea Lynnette Harris was born Sumter, S.C. to the late Dr. Andrew L. Harris and Geneva Smith-Harris on July 2, 1948.

Andrea excelled in high school at the Henderson Institute and later attended Bennett College, where she earned a B.A. Degree in Psychology in 1970.

After distinguishing herself as scholar and leader at Bennett College, Andrea returned home to teach in the Vance County school system. She continued her deep commitment to Vance County by serving as Director of Senior Citizen's Programs 7 Community Organization for Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity, Executive Director of Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity and Associate Director of the North Carolina Senior Citizens' Federation.

While serving in these various roles, Andrea worked at the regional and national levels to voice the concerns of the poor elderly as well as the minority elderly. As a result of her work, resources allotted for these groups increased ten-fold over the span of a decade. Moreover, Andrea has worked extensively in the areas of housing development, early childhood and health education, and job training. Her efforts brought about the development of the first rural transportation program established in the northeastern region of the piedmont.

In 1982, Andrea Harris joined the Minority Business Development Agency of the North Carolina Department of Commerce as a Management and Information Specialist. While at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, she serve as chair of the first statewide Community Reinvestment Act steering committee. Her efforts resulted in minority business becoming a priority to the North Carolina banking community.

During her tenure as the Department of Commerce Andrea developed a deep commitment to the growth and development of minority business enterprises. Acting on her commitment, She co-founded the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development (the Institute) in 1986 -- in an attempt to establish a research and policy base to expand the economic strength and resources of minority communities.

Andrea's professional commitments are reflective of her civic duties. She is Chair of Gateway Community Development Corporation; Past Chair of the Statewide Community Reinvestment Act Steering Committee, Kitrell Job Corps Advisory Council and the Rural Economic Development Organization; Past Vice Chair for the Committee on excellence In Education and the Vance County Arts Council; Past Secretary of the Vance County Strategic Planning Commission; Past Assistant Secretary, 2nd Congressional District of the Black Leadership Caucus; Past President of the Henderson Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; Board member of the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations, Ventures Fund for the Center of Self-Help, REAL Enterprises, Center for Non-Profits, the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center and the Vance County Economic Development Commission. Andrea is also a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change Empowerment initiative; a life member of the NAACP; a member of Brookston Baptish church, and founding member of the Bennett College Community Development Corporation.

For many of you who are familiar with Andrea Harris and her work has provided untiring leadership in the struggle to change public policies and practices, especially as they relate to the utilization of minority-owned businesses. Currently, she serves as President of the institute.

Andrea Lynnette Harris currently resides in Henderson, North Carolina.

Nat Irvin

Born at Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, N.C. Grew up in North Augusta, S.C.

Graduate of the Institute for Educational Management, Harvard University Graduate School of Education; Graduate of the University of South Carolina with an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, and a Masters Degree in Media Arts; Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in Music Composition, from North Texas State university, Denton, Texas

Dr. Irvin serves as Vice Chancellor for Development and University Relations at Winston-Salem North Carolina where he is responsible for managing a comprehensive development and university relations program to include management of institutional advancement, public affairs, alumni relations, government relations, and university publications.

Prior to his appointment at WSSU, Dr. Irvin served as director of corporate/foundation relations at North Texas State University, Denton, Texas.

Dr. Irvin is also a columnist published weekly on the editorial page of the Winston-Salem Journal and the Richmond Times Dispatch. His columns have also appeared in the Charlotte Observer; Triad Style magazine, The Winston-Salem Chronicle, Raleigh News & Observer, Black Issues in Higher Education, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and the Dallas Morning News. He is a contributing writer for Emerge Magazine, Black America's Newsmagazine, Washington, D.C. His writing explore a wide range of social and political issues with particular emphasis on Black Americans, family, race and human relations in America, and the crisis of values in modern day society.

Dr. Irvin is author of "A Voice Crying In the Wilderness," an opera based on an original story of John the Baptist. He composed the original musical score for children's books entitled "Where Are you Barney McCabe" and " Little Sister Percher," original folktales as told by South Carolina poet and author, Tommy Scott Young. Other compositions include music for a variety of dramatic productions, Shakespearean comedies, ballet and modern dance, film, radio and television commercials including the score for the film "It's Grits," which aired for PBS. He wrote and produced "Sister Sarah's Diary," a musical for PBS (1976) and was nominated for the PBS Award for Excellence. He recently completed a modern dance entitled, "Angieue of My Mother."

Family Background

Nat is married to Chandra Goforth Irvin, president of Irvin Goforth & Irvin, a training and communications company. They are the parents of three children, Roman GianArthur, "Deacon 8, Jovian Zayne," Muffin Jones, 11 and Trey 15. The family attends Mt. Zion Baptist Church, where Nat serves as a member of the Deacon's Board, and Chandra is a member of the Deaconess Board. family interests are wide ranging and include a number of community related activities, civic groups and organizations.

James H. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. (Jim)

E. Maynard Adams Distinguished Professor of Business, Geography, and Sociology, Director, Urban Enterprise Corps/Durham Scholars Program University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. James H. Johnson, Jr. is the E. Maynard Adams Distinguished Professor of Business, Geography, and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds degrees in geography from North Carolina Central University (B.S., 1975), the University of Wisconsin at Madison (M.S., 1977), and Michigan State University (Ph.D., 1980).

Jim's research has been widely cited in a number of national media outlets, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, NewsWeek, Time Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report. He has also appeared on a number of National television shows. His most recent television appearances include The Today Show on NBC, CNN Headline News, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, ABC Nightly News with Peter Jennings, Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt on CBS, Inside Politics with Bernard Shaw on CNN, The Week in Review with David Brinkley on NBC, and Our Voices with Bev Smith on BET.

Prior to joining the UNC-CH faculty, Jim was a professor of geography and director of the Center for the study of Urban Poverty at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he spent three first twelve years of his professional career.

Eula Mathis

Masters of Science in Social Work, Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts

Bachelor of Science in Counseling, New Hampshire College
New Hampshire College

Ms. Mathis has devoted her professional career to serving people of all races and cultures who are at risk in their emotional and spiritual lives. She help people in a holistic manner and atmosphere to identify their strength, to recognize and accept who they are, to make any changes that will help them become the best person they can be, and to find inner peace in all areas of their lives. She is the proud mother of an adult daughter.

Her professional experience includes counseling and supervision at a crisis intervention center. As a social worker, she has conducted ongoing assessments, case management, supportive counseling, community outreach services to adults and children, and supervision and training of social workers at a family service agency.

Ms. Mathis is founder and president of Discovery Resources and Enterprises where she provides family system counseling, workshops and groups and retreats to individuals, children, couples, parents, and families to empower them in achieving more loving and functional relationships and marriages and to make social, spiritual, and work-related adjustments. She has recently established a mental health intervention and crisis line for positive alternative crisis support and intervention through telephone counseling for homebound persons and a counseling program for homeless individuals and families at local shelters in Raleigh. She also provides intracultural counseling, separation and divorce mediation, motivational speaking, human relations training, consultation, and mediation.

Her community outreach services include volunteer and facilitator services for the Women's Center and the Ark Shelter, advisory committee member at local agencies and universities and a member of the Evangelist Team at Martin Street Baptist Church.

Maceo K. Sloan, CFA

Attorney Maceo K. Sloan is Chairman, President & CEO of Sloan Financial Group, Inc., Chairman, President & CEO and Chief Investment Officer of NCM Capital management Group, Inc. and Chairman of new Africa advisers.

Mr. Sloan is also Chairman of Sloan Communications, Inc. and PCS Development Corporation, which are minority-owned telecommunication corporations based in the southeast. He is a descendent of the founders of North Carolina Mutual Life insurance Company, an investment management legacy which dates bask to 1898. Prior to founding NCM Capital, Mr. Sloan spent 13 years with North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and its subsidiary, NCM Life Communications, Inc. (which had holdings in cable, cellular and radio).

He id Founder and Chairman of the National Investment Manager Association (NIMA), and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP). Sloan is a member of the Board of Directors for Mechanics and Farmers Bank, the Board of Trustees of the College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) and a former member of the ERISA Advisory Council to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National bar Association, the North Carolina Bar association and the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers. Mr. Sloan is a member of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, the North Carolina Society of Financial Analyst and is a regular panelist on the PBS program "Wall Street Week in Review with Louis Rukeyer."

Maceo K. Sloan earned a B.A. from Morehouse College, M.B.A. from Georgia State University and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.