CU's John Clark receives award for career and service

Robert Swieringa, dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management, left, congratulates alumnus John Clark, center, for winning the Wilbur Parker award as Parker, the school's first black graduate, looks on. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Linda Myers

"This is a joy and an honor," said John R. Clark Sr., MBA '72, when he received congratulations from Wilbur Parker, B.Eng. '50, MBA '50, for being named the 2004 recipient of the Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award at the Johnson Graduate School of Management on Oct. 15. Now in its second year, the annual award, presented by Johnson School Dean Robert Swieringa, honors alumni for outstanding professional achievements and commitment to their community.

A former Tuskegee Airman with the U.S. Air Force, Parker was the first black student to graduate from the Johnson School. He also was the first African American to become a certified public accountant in the state of New Jersey, the first to be named budget director for the city of Newark and the first to be appointed secretary to the Newark Board of Education.

Clark, who is deputy assistant secretary of science for resource management with the U.S. Department of Energy, has worked for the federal government for 35 years in a range of managerial and executive positions. A mentor to young African Americans, he received a Point of Light from former President George H.W. Bush for outstanding volunteerism.

Clark, who had been president of his MBA class, offered this advice to young business students of color: "It's what you expect of yourself that counts. Always be a cut above the playing field -- it's not always level."

The Parker award, sponsored by the Johnson School's Black Business Students Association, was part of the student group's Fourth Annual Professional Development Symposium. The half-day series of events included panels on the diversity of leadership, urban development and real estate, affirmative action and corporate America, and entrepreneurship and private equity and a keynote address by Tony Hoover, a senior executive with Pfizer. Student organizers were Marsha Anderson, Yohance Fuller and James Nixon.