On Saturday, Oct. 3, ULGDYP, a network of Dallas area Young Professionals that work to establish programs focused on financial empowerment, real world education and political participation, hosted its 8th Annual Leadership Development Conference at NYLO Irving/Las Colinas. This year’s theme: #E2E Evolve 2 Excellence, brought together over 150 of Dallas’ brightest young professionals; participating in conversations that inspired and challenged them to become effectively engaged leaders in their respective communities.
Morning keynote speaker, Craig J. Lewis, local entrepreneur and CEO of Visage Payroll, a startup that is revolutionizing the way businesses do payroll, gave an inspirational and powerful address — orating “Excellence takes massive, relentless, unforgiving, undeniable effort and an astronomical, exponential dream.”
This year’s event featured breakout sessions centered around topics to evolve the whole young professional: Evolving Professionally: How To Play The Game and Get To The Top, Evolving Financially: Get Wealth or Die Trying, Evolving Personally: Finding Your FIT in the Life Puzzle and Evolving Socially: Reach Out and Touch Someone.
The United States Department of Education’s David Johns, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, gave the lunch keynote address in which he spoke passionately about the importance of education for African-American students. Johns actively engaged students present from The Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy in Dallas.
This year’s Leadership Development Conference was made possible by the following corporate sponsors: Texas Christian University, The City Influencer, Desoto Economic Development Corporation, Dallas Women’s Foundation, Morgan Stanley and Irving Convention Center.
ULGDYP is a network of Dallas area young professionals, ages 21 to 40, who work to establish programs focused on financial empowerment, real world education and political participation. To learn more about ULGDYP and its programs, please contact membership@ulgdyp.org or go to www.ulgdyp.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @ULGDYP, and Facebook.com/ULGDYP for updates on our organization.
