Gala will honor Bell, Harris
(pictured above: Mayor Bill Bell speaks before members of the Durham City Council.)
Durham Mayor Bill Bell, who graduated from Atkins High School and spent much of his young life in Winston-Salem, will be an honoree at the Greater Black Durham Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Black Business Gala on Saturday, Feb. 7. The event will be held at The Durham Armory, 220 Foster St., in Durham.
Bell was first elected mayor in 2001, after previously serving on the Durham County Board of Commissioners, which he headed as chairman from 1982 – 1994. A one-time IBM senior engineer, Bell earned an undergraduate electrical engineering degree from Howard University and a master’s, also in electrical engineering, from New York University.
He currently serves as executive VP and chief operating officer of UDI Community Development Corp., a nonprofit responsible for several ambitious Durham area construction projects.
Harris
Andrea Harris will be honored along with Bell. She is the longtime leader and co-founder of Durham-based North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development. The organization, which focuses on “creating business and economic success through diversity,” announced earlier this year that Harris had transitioned from president to senior fellow. According to the Greater Black Durham Chamber, which strives to improve the economic landscape of black businesses and the community at large, Bell and Harris are being feted for “their numerous contributions to the minority economic development.”
Gala tickets are $50 and can be purchased at http://blackgala.eventbrite.com.
