On the Friday night of Howard University’s 101st Homecoming, alum Sylvia Taylor (B.A., MFA), Chief Human Resources Officer at Safe-Guard Products International, exemplified the dedication to community and service that have defined the Howard University School of Business. During the school’s 55th Anniversary Gala, themed around “Rooted in Tradition, Ascending in Excellence,” Taylor spoke to a packed ballroom of alumni, faculty, students, and business leaders — reminiscing on her time at Howard.
Although she earned a tuition scholarship, the Atlanta native barely had the money to even get to Howard, spending the last of her savings on a train ticket from Georgia to D.C.
“I made a bee line to the Howard University financial aid office,” she said. “I asked them, ‘if you will trust me enough to let me enroll into the school, to move into the dorms, I will find a way to pay the rest of my outstanding tuition by the end of the year. And Howard University agreed.”
Despite her financial hardships — detailing how, unable to afford a meal plan, she lived off of peanut butter sandwiches and her church’s food pantry — Taylor stayed, earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the School of Business. Now a nationally recognized figure in the business world whose resume spans ExxonMobil, PepsiCo, General Motors, The Weather Channel, and Autotrader, she never forgot her Howard community, announcing a $100,000 donation to the school through her and her husband Bill Taylor’s charity.
The one thing I hope all of you take away from this is that you will take the time to help mentor these young people
Taylor was one of five distinguished alumni who were honored during the gala, along with RLJ Lodgings CEO and Howard Board of Trustees Chair Leslie Hale (BBA ’94); Senior Advisor and former CEO to the Board of Resorts World Las Vegas Alex Dixon (BBA ’03); Vice President of Global Product and Integrated Marketing at Google Adrienne Lofton, and Perkins Management CEO and owner of the Fuddruckers franchise Nicholas Perkins (MBA ’13). The celebration of their work was just one of many moments from the night that shined a spotlight on what makes the School of Business such a singular space that continues to create business leaders who are truly “One of One.”
A Long Legacy of Economic Education
Although the gala celebrated the school’s 55th “official” anniversary, the roots of business education at Howard go far deeper, dating back to the establishment of a school of commerce in 1870. One hundred years later, the School of Business officially opened.
“They were emerging from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, so that looked very different from what it looks like in 2025, but it is still the same mission, the same core at any point,” said Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Kanika Jones in a recording played during the gala. “When they formally founded the School of Business, it was a nod to the reality that if we are not empowered economically, then all of the other parts of the infrastructure that we want to be empowered are dismantled.”
Originally housed in a warehouse on Sherman Avenue, the school quickly grew under the leadership of its first dean, Dr. Milton Wilson, becoming at the time the second largest school at Howard and now encompassing 11 Centers of Excellence. In 1976, the undergraduate program became the first in Washington, D.C., to be awarded accreditation from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). When the MBA program gained AACSB accreditation in 1980, it likewise became the first in D.C. to receive AACSB accreditation. Since then, the Business School has proven itself to be an elite institution to this day, ranked with its MBA program No. 44 in Fortune’s Top MBA Programs, and its undergraduate program ranked No. 77 in U.S. News and World Report and No. 1 among HBCUs.
Rooted in Tradition, Ascending in Excellence
Throughout the evening, speakers emphasized not only the incredible successes of the business school’s alumni, but the importance of paying that success forward, honoring the school’s legacy through donations and actions that support future generation of graduates. One speaker who exemplified this commitment to serving the Howard community was President Emeritus, Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery, and Interim University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, who himself earned his MBA from the School of Business in 2011, while already a surgeon and faculty member at Howard University Hospital.
“I would operate in the morning, see patients, teach, and then come sit next to students who have no clue that I was a faculty member in the medical school. And you know how Howard students are; they’ll complain to anybody who will sit next to them,” he joked, comparing his time earning his MBA to secret shopping, and expressing gratitude for being able to hear about their challenges and their dreams.
Together, we made a commitment to continue the legacy at Howard University, and to build a business school worthy of that legacy.
“The one thing I hope all of you take away from this is that you will take the time to help mentor these young people,” he said. “They want to speak to you, but they also want to get here. They want you to listen to them, they want you to hear their stories, they want you to amplify their humanity —regardless of the fact that they are not quite there yet.”
The gala concluded with a celebration of Associate Provost for Academic Innovation and Strategic Initiatives Dr. Barron Harvey, who was honored with a Legacy Award, celebrating 45 years of leadership within the school — including 25 years as dean. A towering figure in the business school, Harvey’s accomplishments are too numerous to provide a complete list, but include the founding of the National HBCU Business Dean’s Roundtable and the Washington Consortium School of Business Research Forum, serving on the AACSB board of directors, and being appointed to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in support of President Barack Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation. In his speech, he credited the numerous expansions of the school to the entire community around the school.
“I’ve had the privilege to work with some truly outstanding individuals, from the support of the university leadership, to the commitment and excellence of our truly outstanding faculty, to the staff who give of themselves every single day, to the very best students in the world,” Harvey said, also thanking the hundreds of alumni in attendance. “Together, we made a commitment to continue the legacy at Howard University, and to build a business school worthy of that legacy.”
