Our History

 TC BANDD was founded by Eric Alexander in 2013 as the incoming President of the General Mills Black Champions Network, and he continues to lead the organization as Founder and CEO post the organizations transition to its current status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. The organization was created to provide a safe forum for Black, African, and African American professions to leverage their combined scale and the compounding impact of working together to deliver to members and the community. These values are evidenced in their vision of “Delivering Quality Professional Development, Building Cross-Organizational and Community Connections, and Creating a Safe Space for members to Learn, Share, and Grow together.

This vision and mission are executed Primarily through semi-annual hybrid development summits and supplemented by virtual development sessions, social media content distribution, and our partner event newsletter. On this journey Eric developed strategic partnerships and Board Member support from some of the largest companies in the world including General Mills, Cargill, Target, Best Buy, Wells Fargo, and US Bank. TC BANDD is grateful for the ongoing support from its sponsor organizations, and the community impact that it continues to generate.

Through the expertise and passion of their Volunteer Board, the generosity of their pro bono speakers, and the support of their sponsor organizations, events are fee to individual attendees! This eliminates cost as a barrier to participation. The passion, financial support, and guidance provided by the continuous Founding Board Members has been critical to the stability and growth of the organization, and TC BANDD extends a special thank you to Drinal Foster (CIO), Eric Black (CFO), and Ken Charles (Executive Sponsor).

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, TC BANDD made a strategic pivot to virtual events which expanded our organizational impact, reach, and pool of speaker talent. With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, in-person events have been reintroduced in hybrid format allowing uninterrupted event access to our global community which currently extends to 29 US states and the District of Columbia and 7 countries spanning across 4 continents.