The AASU Awards

About The Awards

Since 1972 the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference has informed and empowered thousands of participants through the productive exchange of ideas and experiences. This dynamic event is an occasion for creating alliances and renewing friendships as well as charting a course for the future.

Equally important, the conference provides an opportunity to keep our history alive and to honor exemplary pioneers and breakthrough leaders.

Through celebrating their achievements and contributions, we learn enduring lessons that will inspire and guide us in the years to come.

At the 40th Annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference we are proud to present:

  • The Professional Achievement Award to Bonita C. Stewart (MBA ’83), and 
  • The Bert King Award for Service to David A. Thomas

The Bert King Foundation, founded in 1996 to honor the life and legacy of Bert King (MBA ’70), is proud to sponsor The AASU Awards in partnership with the African American Student Union and the HBS African American Alumni Association.

Award Recipients

Bonita Coleman Stewart

Professional Achievement Award

Bonita Coleman Stewart is the Vice President of US Sales for Google, Inc.  Bonita C. Stewart brings more than 20 years of marketing, technology and industry expertise to Google, where she oversees US strategy and sales for the Automotive, Finance and Travel categories for the Americas. She has responsibility for delivering integrated advertising solutions across Search, YouTube, Display, Mobile and Social products. Prior to joining Google, she served as Director, Chrysler Group Interactive Communications for DaimlerChrysler AG and Director, Chrysler Brand Advertising. In 2005 Advertising Age named the Chrysler Group Interactive Marketer of the Year. Bonita also enjoyed a 10-year career with IBM and co-founded Nia Enterprises, a web-based company, in 2000.

Bonita is a frequent speaker at numerous marketing and interactive conferences such as ANA, AD:TECH and Automotive World Congress and has been quoted in such publications as Automotive News, Advertising Age, Brandweek and USA Today. In 2005, she co-authored “The Fifth P of Marketing,” an article for CRM Magazine. Advertising Age named her a “Woman to Watch” in 2011.

Bonita graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Howard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for Cranbrook Art Academy based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She resides in Englewood, New Jersey with her husband.

 

David A. Thomas

Bert King Award for Service

David A. Thomas is Dean and William R. Berkley Chair of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. A recognized thought leader in organizational behavior and strategic human resource management, Dr. Thomas’ research focuses on issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership, and organizational change.

Prior to his appointment at Georgetown University, Dr. Thomas was the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he directed the school’s Organizational Behavior Unit. He also served as senior associate dean and director of faculty recruitment at Harvard; led its business school’s required first-year MBA course, Leadership and Organizational Behavior; and held the position of faculty chair for several executive education programs. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 1990, Dr. Thomas was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Thomas has co-authored two books—Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America (Harvard Business Press, 1999) and Leading For Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County(Harvard Education Press, 2009)—and more than 60 case studies and articles for leading academic journals and practitioner publications.

In addition to being widely published, Dr. Thomas has been recognized with a number of prestigious awards, including the Executive Development Roundtable’s Marion Gislason Award for Contributions to the Theory and Practice of Executive Development. He recently received the Administrative Science Quarterly Scholarly Contribution Award for the article that had the most impact on the field in the last five years. He also earned the George R. Terry Award from the Academy of Management for the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge for his book, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America.

Dr. Thomas received a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Sciences and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Organizational Behavior from Yale University. He also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Past Recipients

  • Professional Achievement Award

  • Paula Banks (AMP 154)
  • Peter C.B. Bynoe (MBA ’75)
  • W. Don Cornwell (MBA ’71)
  • Lawrence V. Jackson (MBA ’79)
  • Pamela J. Joyner (MBA ’84)
  • Keith Clinkscales (MBA ’90)
  • Edward Lewis (OPM ’84)
  • William M. Lewis (MBA ’82)
  • Jonathan D. Mariner (MBA ’78)
  • Henry McGee (MBA ’78)
  • Raymond J. McGuire (MBA ‘83/JD ’84)
  • E. Stanley O’Neal (MBA ’78)
  • Robert L. Ryan (MBA ’70)
  • Stuart A. Taylor II (MBA ’87)
  • Pamela Thomas-Graham (MBA ’88)
  • Herbert Wilkins (MBA ’70) and
  • Terry L. Jones (MBA ’74)
  • Reginald Van Lee (MBA '84)

  • Bert King Award for Service

  • Rena Clark (MBA ’90)
  • Clifford (Jamari) Darden (MBA ’69)
  • Ann M. Fudge (MBA ’77)
  • Carla Harris (MBA ’87)
  • Dennis F. Hightower (MBA ’74)
  • Nancy Lane (PMD 29)
  • Lillian Lincoln Lambert (MBA ’69)
  • Kenneth A. Powell (MBA ’74)
  • Quintin E. Primo III (MBA ’79)
  • W. Dwight Raiford (MBA ’78)
  • John Rice (MBA ’92)
  • Argelia Rodriguez (MBA ’84)
  • Michele Rogers (MBA ’86) and
  • Steven Rogers (MBA ’85)
  • Gregory A. White (MBA '90)
  • Leroy Willis (MBA ’69)

  • Civic Commitment Award

  • (Awarded 1997 – 2001)
  • Catherine W. LeBlanc (MBA ’80)
  • Edwin C. Reed (MBA ’79)
  • Jonathan Weaver (MBA ’75)
  • Benaree Pratt Wiley (MBA ’74)
  • Deborah C. Wright (MBA ’84)