Today I had the privilege of speaking for the second consecutive year, with some of the “best and brightest” minority high school students in the country as they rapped up the four week LEAD (Lead Education and Development Program in Business, Inc.). Tribune hosted the 
students sponsored by Northwestern University during their 2005 Summer Program. I spoke about technology and business and my role at Tribune Interactive and appreciate the opportunity. While Paul Pace explained to the students how Tribune does it's online data marketing and Jaime Rodrigues, our summer intern, also spoke of her experiences at TI since May in the areas of marketing & development. It was rather enjoyable.
Here is a little snippet on LEAD from their website:
“A national partnership of America's top corporations and business schools, the Leadership Education and Development Program in Business (LEAD) is at the forefront of building a talented and diverse workforce ready for the business environment.”
LEAD is an initiative to introduce minority high school juniors to challenging careers in business. Its mission is to influence those high school students with outstanding academic performance and demonstrated leadership skills to pursue careers in business. LEAD engages them in a four week Summer Business Institute (SBI) program at a sponsoring university, in this case Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Through SBI and other initiatives, LEAD guides students towards various corporate career paths, and exposes them to the corporate world environment. Here is some additional press coverage on LEAD by BusinessWeek. Also a nice write-up can be found on the Society of HR Management website.
