Steve Harvey To Speak At The 20th Annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit (#BESummit)Coming to Atlanta May 13 – 16, 2015

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Quincy Jones and Clarence Avant to be honored at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit in Atlanta, GA May 13-16

Where Innovation and Capital Meet. Join BLACK ENTERPRISE at the 2015 Entrepreneurs Summit hosted by Nationwide on Wednesday, May 13 through Saturday, May 16, at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, with a powerhouse lineup of some of the nation’s most accomplished and celebrated entrepreneurs and motivational speakers. Steve Harvey, No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, Emmy Award-winning television host, and renowned radio personality, is confirmed as one of the Summit’s keynote speakers at the 2015 Entrepreneurs Summit.

An annual highlight of the Summit is the presentation of the nation’s top awards for African American business achievement and community involvement. The Black Enterprise Trailblazer Award will be presented to legendary record producer, musician, and humanitarian, Quincy Jones; and music executive and entrepreneur Clarence Avant, at the BE 100s Gala on Friday, May 15. This award recognizes the outstanding achievement of an individual who has had broad and positive impact on his or her industry as well as the community at large, while serving as a champion of entrepreneurship and business growth, employment opportunities, and wealth creation for African Americans.

Celebrating more than 60 years of performing and music industry involvement, Jones’s creative magic has spanned more than six decades, beginning with the music of the post-swing era and continuing through today’s high-technology age. An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Jones’s career encompasses the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder, multimedia entrepreneur and humanitarian. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies, and television. As producer and conductor of the historic “We Are The World” recording (one of the best-selling singles of all time) and Michael Jackson’s multiplatinum solo albums, Off The Wall, Bad, and Thriller (the best-selling album of all time, with more than 50 million copies sold), Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world.

Avant was the chairman of Motown Records and board member of PolyGram. A renowned entertainment industry executive known for his keen business sense and unique deal-making skills, Avant is regarded in the highest esteem and is arguably one of the most influential African Americans in entertainment business history. He has worked with industry greats, such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and veteran music executive Doug Morris, but his scope extends beyond the music industry to people such as Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, BLACK ENTERPRISE Publisher Earl Graves, Oprah Winfrey, and BET Founder Robert Johnson. He serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Network Foundation Technologies L.L.C. Among the many honors he has received are the Heroes Award from the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy, an honorary doctorate from Morehouse College, and the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award.

The 2015 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit boasts high-powered sessions on critical business topics such as Attracting Angel Investors, Accelerating Your Tech Startup, The Art of Raising Money, It’s Called Show BUSINESS, and Selling Your Ideas and Building Consumer Brands. Confirmed speakers include: 

• Steve Harvey, Author, Radio Personality and Television Show Host
• Lisa Nichols, CEO, Motivating the Masses
• Michael Eric Dyson, Author, Professor and Radio Host
• Roland Martin, Journalist, Commentator, Host, News One Now
• Paul Judge, Managing Partner, Judge Ventures, Advisor Opportunity Ventures
• Jermaine Dupri, Record Producer, Songwriter and entrepreneur
• Randal Pinkett, Co-Founder & CEO of BCT Partners, Speaker and Author
• Ken Coleman, Chairman, Saama Technologies
• Don Peebles, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Peebles Corp.
• Reginald Hudlin, American Writer, Film Director, and Producer
• Necole Parker, Founder and CEO, ELOCEN Group
• Samuel Gilmore, Founder and President, Overnight Success Inc.
• Tom Chikoore, Founder, Techstars Risingstars Program
• Kim Kimble, Celebrity Hairstylist, Owner of Kim Kimble Salons and Kimble Haircare System
• Chris Bennett, Co-Founder and CEO, Soldsie; Founder, Black Founders (NewME)
• Sherrod Shackelford & LaVon Lewis, CEOs & Co-Founders, PDG Branding & Marketing
• David Grain, Founder & Managing Partner, Grain Management L.L.C.
• Stacey Key, President & CEO, Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council
• Robert Santiago, Owner of Empire FX
• Kim Wales, Founder & CEO, Wales Capital

For the aspiring entrepreneur, The Small Business Success™ Boot Camp offers practical advice on how to take your business to the next level. Plus, the Black Enterprise Elevator Pitch Competition will award $10,000 for the best new business idea. Attendees of the 2015 Entrepreneurs Summit will also have for the first time the opportunity to tap into all the latest BLACK ENTERPRISE developments taking place in and around the Summit courtesy of the new dedicated BE Events app. Available for free on Android, iOS and other smartphones (attendees with Windows and BlackBerry devices can go here), the app allows visitors to access the full event schedule, browse the event social media updates, receive information on all the speakers taking part in the Summit, as well as develop a personal event planner to remind them of their must-attend sessions. It also features a detailed interactive floor plan to help attendees navigate the session rooms as well as keep attendees fully up-to-date with the latest developments through a link to the #BESummit social media tag. Attendees will also receive push notifications in the event of room changes and black enterprise giveaways. To download the app for free, visit the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store. The host sponsor of the 2015 Entrepreneurs Summit is Nationwide; presenting sponsor is Walmart and platinum sponsor FedEx. For updates, follow Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit page on Facebook and search the #BESummit hashtag on Twitter.