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Urban Financial Services Coalition: the Founders’ Story
04/16/2008 - By Carl Goldstein
Urban Financial Services Coalition
Urban Financial Services Coalition Conference June 18-22 in Minneapolis.
Urban Financial Services Coalition: the Founders’ Story
By Carl Goldstein
When leaders of the Urban Financial Services Coalition take the stage in Minneapolis this June for the group’s national conference, their own living history will be on display. All three founding fathers of what has grown into the preeminent national organization representing the interests of minority professionals in the financial services industry will participate in the UFSC’s 34th National Conference.
Robert Samuels, now retired but then a Manufacturers Hanover Trust commercial banker, Charles Stewart, an Executive Vice President for Regions Financial Corporation’s Public Institution and Non-governmental business unit, and Nathaniel Harris, then with First National City Bank and now retired, will be among the speakers for the opening Plenary Session. Their mission: to impart hard-won lessons from decades past to the hundreds of financial services professionals from around the country who are meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis from June 18-22 to network and enhance their professional development.
The UFSC’s annual conference is entitled “Destination Success: Powering Our Network for Optimal Performance.” A packed schedule reflects the UFSC’s unique and diverse mission, as it connects individuals ranging from top executives in town for the CEO Symposium to the talented young people of color attending the Mark 1 Emerging Leaders Program and the Diversity Career Expo.
Looking back, the founders say they saw their work as an extension of the civil rights movement. Robert Samuels, who in 1974 became the first president of what was originally called the National Association of Urban Bankers, puts it this way: “Starting out in banking in the 1960s, I understood that people were sacrificing their lives to create opportunities for others. We were determined to open doors for Blacks in the banking industry, to prove that we could do the job –and then reach back and help others.”
To that end, Samuels began meeting informally on Sundays at the Harlem YMCA with a small group of fellow African-American bankers in New York, intentionally choosing an off-premises location to avoid any objections from their employers about using corporate offices for unauthorized purposes. Also included in this group was Nathaniel Harris, one of the three founders, who was then with First National City Bank (the predecessor company to what eventually became CitiGroup in New York).
At the same time, Samuels made a point of reaching out to other Black bankers in the course of his business travels, making contacts in Atlanta, Boston, Little Rock, and Detroit, among other places. One he met in this fashion was Charles Stewart, then working for First National Bank in Little Rock, Arkansas. Stewart laughs as he remembers meeting Samuels at a meeting in Atlanta in the early 1970s: “Bob was so surprised to learn that there were Blacks working in the banking business in Little Rock, and I felt the same way about New York.”
Stewart says he had already seen the need for some kind of professional organization for Blacks and other minorities. “In those days, most of us were the first generation of African-Americans in our institutions, and it didn’t take too much awareness to realize that at most meetings I sat in, I was the only person present who looked like me,” says Stewart.
The two men discussed the need for a national organization that would provide a venue for networking opportunities and discussion of issues of mutual concern – even just to know that there are people a phone call away who are facing similar challenges. “If you wanted to survive as a Black in the banking business, you needed to be able to communicate with other Blacks; working by yourself, as most of us did, it was easy to get frustrated,” says Samuels.
These meetings formed the backdrop for the decision in 1974 to convene the first national meeting, and New York, as the nation’s financial capital, was the logical place to do it. Participants came from Boston and Detroit, where informal groups of African-American bankers had already sprung up, as well as Atlanta, Little Rock and elsewhere.
New York became the first chapter of the National Association of Urban Bankers (with Nathaniel Harris as chapter president), Little Rock the second (Charles Stewart headed that chapter). From these modest beginnings the group has grown to comprise 21 professional chapters and two student chapters around the country, plus a chapter in Toronto. Along the way, the organization broadened its mission and representation from the banking sector to the entire financial service industries, reflecting the achievements and increasing role for minority professionals in those industries. The name change from NAUB to UFSC took place in 2000 in recognition of this broader mission.
Yet the growth path for the organization has not always been a smooth one. Existing professional organizations did not actively welcome African-American members and were in some cases wary of attempts to organize a group that would take the interests of minority banking professionals as its central mission. Stewart says that the Bankers Association of Arkansas initially worried that the fledgling National Urban Bankers Association was attempting to become a collective bargaining unit. Some potential members feared that joining the group might make them appear too “radical” to their employers.
Samuels recalls that even the National Bankers Association, a coalition of Black-owned banks, was wary about the effort to launch the fledgling National Association of Urban Bankers. That was in part for fear of offending majority (i.e., White) banks and bankers, in part because some attendees feared they might lose the opportunity to attend that organization’s annual meeting – at that time their only opportunity to travel for professional learning and networking purposes.
Even today, as the Urban Financial Services Coalition continues to grow, the challenges do not become smaller or easier to overcome. The crisis in the financial industry that began with the subprime mortgage sector and then spread to affect credit and stock markets worldwide has led to staff cutbacks at many institutions. And when companies downsize, points out USFC co-founder Charles Stewart, minority staff members are disproportionately affected. “The commitment to inclusiveness seems to be diminishing,” says Stewart.
Another challenge could be considered a byproduct of success. The new generation of minorities in the financial services industry is well-equipped to take on major responsibilities. Their increasing numbers have fueled the rise of other organizations for Blacks and other minorities, such as the Black MBA’s Association, the National Association of Black Accountants, the National Association of Security Professionals, and others.
The conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency, located at 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403. For conference registration, call the UFSC at 800-996-8335 or go online to www.ufscnet.org. For hotel registration, call the Hyatt Regency at 612-370-1234 or 888-591-1234. For media contacts or interview requests, please call Marnita Schroedl or Carl Goldstein of Words on Fire Communications at 612-928-7744 or email carl@wordsonfire.com.
Carl Goldstein is editorial director of Words on Fire Communications, a Minneapolis-based communications and strategic planning consultancy.
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