Burns Speaks at Promise and Possibility Conference

Jazz legend and Managing & Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis served as a keynote speaker. He discussed the central role the arts can play in education and character development. “Arts are the lens through which young people can make sense of the world,” he said. Marsalis then delighted the crowd with an impromptu trumpet performance. Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns, the groundbreaking first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, was the keynote speaker at the closing session. Prep alumna and Time Warner Executive Director for Corporate Responsibility Diahann Billings-Burford (VI/Grace Church '86, Poly Prep '90, Yale '94) sat down with Burns to discuss her experience in the corporate world and path to leadership. While she largely credited her rise from childhood poverty to CEO to her mother’s influence, she also praised the tremendous number of “programs, supports, and mentors” from which she benefited along the way. 

The conference concluded on April 12th with College Connections, a “reverse college fair” in which conference guests had the opportunity to showcase their organizations and network with college and university admissions representatives. 

For more information about the conference, please visit our 2014 Smart Connections Conference page.