For 33 years, the Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council, formerly the Pittsburgh Regional Purchasing Council has sponsored the Business Opportunity Fair. This year the 34th annual confab was predicted to be one of the best Opportunity Fair events hosted by the WPMSDC.

LET THE SHOW BEGIN—Affiliates of the Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council cut the ribbon to start the Business Opportunity Fair at the entrance of the Monroeville Convention Center.

Emphasizing the focal point of the organization and conference, Gary L. Evans, chairman of the WPMSDC board, pointed out that the purpose of the day was for participants to make new contacts and connections.

“Today is about building business relationships between minority-owned businesses, major corporations and public agencies,” he explained.

BALTIMORE (AP)—Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., whose Parks Sausage Co. became the first Black-owned business in the U.S. to go public in 1969, has died at 90.

He died May 24 at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore after suffering from congestive heart failure, his son Brian Haysbert said May 25.

RAYMOND V. HAYSBERT SR.

Born in pov­erty, Haysbert later became a member of the famed Tus­kegee Airmen, serving in Africa and Italy in World War II before settling in Baltimore. There, he joined the company started by Henry Parks that became well known throughout the northeast by advertisements featuring a hungry boy asking, “More Parks Sausages, mom, please!”

Joset B. Wright, a former procurement executive, has been named president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. Wright will succeed Harriet R. Michel, who will retire June 30 after 22 years at the helm of the corporate membership organization.

JOSET B. WRIGHT

“We are pleased to have a leader of Wright’s caliber as the next president of NMSDC,” said Richard A. Hughes, chairman of the NMSDC executive committee, who led the national search committee. “Her executive experience, knowledge of procurement and strong understanding of the value of minority supplier development will be instrumental in NMSDC’s expansion.”

Congratulations are in order for this year’s high school graduating class. Graduation from high school is a milestone in everyone’s life. This completes your general education from kindergarten in grade school to senior in high school. All of us who finished high school can recall the joy we experienced walking across the stage to receive our diploma. We remember the genuine friendships we developed and the teachers who taught and encouraged us. I want to encourage all those who are graduating this year to take this opportunity and enjoy it to the fullest. Have a blast at your prom, have fun at your graduation party and enjoy your final summer as a high school student. Last but not least, I want to welcome this year’s graduating class to “The Real World.”