National First Vice President Beverly Evans Smith will be the keynote speaker at the Founders Day Luncheon for the Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Saturday, Jan. 18 at noon at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel located at 400 North Olive Street in Dallas. During the annual celebration, 50 and 25-year members will be honored during the program.A Senior Partner with The HR Group, Inc., Ms. Smith has over 25 years experience in the areas of human resources, organizational effectiveness, redesign and restructure, financial management, non-profit organizational leadership and education administration. She specializes in strategic planning, conducting operations audits and the development of innovative solutions to improve employee effectiveness and efficiency. She has created performance management tools for Fortune 500 companies, enhancing their existing processes and creating train-the-trainers tools for their HR teams and supervisors.
In addition, Ms. Smith, who has been a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., since 1967, is a motivational speaker who has given over 400 speeches on a variety of topics. She has held several leadership positions in the Sorority, including serving as the Executive Director. Currently, Ms. Smith is Georgia’s Assistant Commissioner (State Director) for Adult Education and GED Testing, a division of the Technical College System of Georgia. Ms. Smith is the recipient of many honors and awards including Who’s Who Among African Americans and Who’s Who in the Southeast.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary, immediately following a yearlong celebration of Delta Sigma Theta’s centennial, the Dallas Alumnae Chapter was established in 1924. Dallas’s own Frederica Chase Dodd, one of the 22 National Founders, organized the chapter and served as its first president. Along with Ms. Dodd, several members were the cornerstones of the chapter: Jessie Pollard, Ruth Mason, Ruby Pollard Reed, Nettie Wycliff, Rowena Wilkins Blackmon, Lillian Thompson, Koletta Jefferson Washington, Marie Starks Burke, Jessie T. Rice, Rezolia Thrash, Doris Tipps, Irene Dobbs Jackson, Deraline Winston McKenzie, Leatrice Porter, Myrtle Saddler, and DeArtis Pryor Purify.
Today, as inheritors of a remarkable legacy of greatness, the Dallas Alumnae Chapter , under the leadership of Sharon Royal Hunt, has withstood the test of time and continues to grow tremendously in its membership, which enables the chapter to be in the forefront fulfilling the mission of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. empowering people and making a difference in the Dallas, Texas community.
