40 Years of Developing Diverse Business Leaders
Tuck Diversity Business Programs are renowned for their ability to genuinely change lives: participants who attend say they are able to make real, vital changes that improve their bottom line immediately after returning home. Perhaps most importantly, these successful participants go on to become pillars in the community, creating jobs for diverse employees and providing mentorship to other underrepresented entrepreneurs. In 2020, our 40th year, we celebrated this legacy of impact while eagerly looking ahead to the future.
Our History
In 1980, Tuck’s visionary leaders saw an unmet need. In an era of increased outsourcing, corporate success depended on supplier excellence, but no other business school was focusing on developing the business acumen of the rapidly growing minority business sector. Determined to meet this need, Tuck worked with the US Small Business Administration to launch what was then called the Minority Business Executive Program in the summer of 1980. Twenty-six participants attended the inaugural session, laying the foundation for an alumni network that has grown to include more than 8,000 entrepreneurs, executives, and supplier diversity leaders.
