Conference to host ‘Apprentice’ winner

The Daily Beacon - Knoxville, TN, USA - UT will welcome a winner of the hit reality show “The Apprentice” to speak as the Charlie Lemmons Keynote Speaker during the third annual Black Issues Conference on Feb. 9. Randal Pinkett, the season 4 winner, will discuss “Money, Power, and Respect: The Keys to Economic Empowerment.”

Tierney Bates, assistant director of Minority Student Affairs, said planning the conference came together easily.

“My generation grew up listening to the song ‘Money, Power and Respect’ as an anthem. First comes the money, then the power, and finally respect,” Bates said. “The goal of the conference is to teach students, not just how to make money, but how to acquire and manage wealth. I know plenty of students who come out of school and make great starting salaries, but they’re living in debt because they don’t know how to live within their means. That is where the ‘Keys to Economic Empowerment’ came from.”

The conference will feature workshops and discussions, as well as the Charlie Lemmons keynote address. Lemmons’ grandson, Ron Frieson, awarded the Black Cultural Center $300,000 to sponsor the lecture.

Bates described Pinkett as the ideal choice for the conference’s keynote speaker.

“Randall Pinkett made himself a commodity in the business world, acquired and grew his wealth, and now he has a significant economic impact within his community,” he said.

Pinkett, a Rhodes Scholar and former college athlete, holds five academic degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rutgers University and the University of Oxford, and has published several scholarly papers and books, including “Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multi-million-Dollar Business.”