---African American CEO in Boston, Cleve Killingsworth, resigns from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts---The Board of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) announced that it has accepted the resignation of President and Chief Executive Officer Cleve Killingsworth effective March 15th. Killingsworth will remain available to the company as needed to ensure a smooth transition. Killingsworth joined BCBSMA in February 2004 as President and Chief Operating Officer after 30-plus years in the health care industry. He became CEO in July 2005. "It's been an honor and privilege to work with such a talented group of people who are deeply committed to improving the quality and affordability of health care," Killingsworth said. "I look forward now to moving the discussion of quality and affordability to a national level, where I believe my experience can be of value." Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts provides coverage to more than 3 million members, 2.5 million in Massachusetts. Killingsworth is a founding member of the Executive Leadership Council—an independent, non partisan, non-profit corporation in Washington, D.C., that provides African-American executives with a leadership advisory forum on business, economic, and public policy issues. Click here for more detail.

Brian Miller

Benjamin Jealous

Julie Stav

Business World Index

---Congressional Black Caucus and the White House---
Reverend Al Sharpton, Former Congressman J.C. Watts, and Dr. Gary A. Puckrein released the following statement.  "We applaud the steps taken by the Congressional Black Caucus and the White House to meet to discuss the economy, unemployment and the need to pass health care reform. The current debate on health care is critical.  We must not lose sight of the fact that there continues to be a disparity in health care in our minority communities. As a nation we need to focus on more quality health care for minority populations, and reimbursement for the physicians and hospitals to provide these essential services. This bill ignores the minority disparity issue.  These disparities have existed for decades and true reform needs to address these issues.  As the health care reform debate continues, we are working together to emphasize the need for a focus on specific actions that will improve our opportunity to manage costs, enhance services to minority populations, their health care needs, and those of the physicians, hospitals and health centers who deliver health care with inadequate resources."

---Updated Report on Racial Economic Inequality Now Available in Spanish---United for a Fair Economy announced that its annual report on racial economic inequality is now available in Spanish. The report, State of the Dream 2010: Drained - Jobless and Foreclosed in Communities of Color examines racial economic disparities in a range of areas including foreclosures, poverty, income and wealth. Newly updated data in the report shows that people of color are experiencing a disproportionate share of the layoffs and foreclosures amidst the current recession, deepening inequalities that existed prior to the recession. "Unemployment statistics continue to indicate that broad-based economic recovery policies just aren't reaching those who need it most, including people of color," said Brian Miller, Executive Director of UFE and a co-author of the report. "Our report contains ample evidence to conclude that without targeted policies we will never reduce the wide gaps of income and wealth between races." Co-author of the report, Jeannette Huezo said, "Latinos and Blacks are earning on average 68 cents and 62 cents for every dollar earned by white workers," notes. "When the bills are paid, Latinos only have 12 cents and Blacks only have a 10 cents for every dollar of white wealth. It's like being on an economic treadmill – without a targeted recovery strategy, they'll never catch up, and more will continue to fall off completely."

---'Race in America'---
The University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work and the Center on Race and Social Problems will host "Race in America" -- designed to be the most solution-focused conference on race ever held -- on the University's Pittsburgh campus June 3-6. Seven key areas will be explored during "Race in America": economics, education, criminal justice, race relations, health, mental health, and families, youth, and the elderly. There will be two keynote speeches and a panel discussion, all open to the public, as well as 20 sessions for conference participants. Forty of the nation's most prominent experts on race will give presentations in the conference sessions. Guest speakers will include:Julian Bond, longtime civil rights activist and former NAACP board chair, Julianne Malveaux, economist and president of Bennett College for Women, Alex Castellanos, partner at National Media, Inc., and a frequent guest commentator on CNN, and Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, who will be one of the panelists in that discussion.

---Hispanic Investment Conference---
Julie Stav, the Hispanic community's leading consumer and financial expert, announces La Bolsa A Tu Alcance. This first of its kind Hispanic investment conference will be presented in Spanish by Julie Stav's student, turned financial expert and stock analyst, Mario Medina. This one-day high-intensity event taking place in Miami on Saturday, April 17th, will provide Hispanics with the market knowledge and insights they need to better understand and take charge of their stock market investments. Through the combined financial wisdom of Julie Stav and Mario Medina, attendees will be shown the proven investment techniques and tools that Medina has developed using his method of discipline and diversification based on the teachings of Julie Stav. Medina's selection of stocks consistently outperforms established market indicators.  In its first full year of publishing, Mario Medina's daily La Lista publication outperformed by over 80 percent the S&P 500.  La Lista showed a positive return of 60.2 % while the S&P 500 posted a loss of 19.7% in that same period.  Attendees will walk away from the conference with an understanding of how Mario consistently achieves these outstanding results, and how to apply his techniques to their stock investing strategies. A former architect in Cuba, Mario Medina came to the United States in search of prosperity. Medina discovered Julie Stav in 2000, and with her guidance and teachings began to understand the stock market.  After recycling bottles and cans to make his first $500 to invest, he began his investment journey and found success and a passion of helping others along the way.