Black MBA - Summer 2008 - (Page 29)

The bottom line is that, more and more, African Americans influence advertising. In 2004, Blacks earned a combined income of $679 billion and spent almost $233 billion on housing, food, transportation, clothing and healthcare. But less than a half century ago, many companies and businesses didn’t recognize the financial power of African Americans – not until H. Naylor Fitzhugh, a name that is probably unfamiliar to the masses, cultivated the practice of target marketing and became one of the earliest authorities on Black consumer marketing. GETTING TO KNOW HIM “Trailblazer” is perhaps the best description of the Washington, D.C., native, born Howard Naylor Fitzhugh in 1910, and rightfully so, because he is widely lauded as the individual who almost single-handily put target marketing on the map. Fitzhugh was one of the first Black MBA Harvard graduates in the university’s history, the genius who helped develop an entire university’s business program and one of the first Black executives hired at a major corporation. It’s no surprise, then, that his grandson and namesake, Howard Naylor Fitzhugh III, frequently offers a silent “Thanks, Granddaddy” and “Hi, Granddaddy” while dashing between MBA classes at Howard University (HU). By doing so, Naylor extends gratitude and respect to his grandfather’s image, which is captured in a hanging portrait on the main floor inside HU’s School of Business (HUSB). Prominently placed around the corner from the portrait is Fitzhugh’s bronzed headshot and mini biography. Just outside the building hangs a banner boasting HUSB’s ranking among the top 20 undergraduate business schools in the nation, based on a 2007 report by BusinessWeek magazine. According to the banner, HU is one of four colleges representing the D.C. metro area and, according to the signage, no other historically Black college or university made the ranking. In 2006, the undergraduate business program also ranked among the top 10 entrepreneurship programs, according to Fortune Small Business Magazine. In 2007, Fortune Small Business Magazine ranked the HUSB’s MBA Program among the top 26 business schools for “America’s Best Colleges for Entrepreneurs.” And in 2005, the MBA program nationally ranked No. 7 for “Most Competitive Students” by the Princeton Review. In 2004, the National Black MBA Association® selected HUSB as the “Educational Institution of the Year.” A little over six feet tall, with slightly lighter eyes than his grandfather’s brown eyes, Naylor, 32, glances at the banner and ponders his and his grandfather’s history. The stories share common threads, such as the fact that both men planned medical careers. A scholarship recipient, Fitzhugh entered Harvard University at age 16 with the goal to become a doctor; Naylor started at the University of California, Los Angeles, as a biology major with intentions to practice medicine one day. “I wanted to go into emergency room medicine,” Naylor says. “Honestly, it was about the money. But a year before graduation, I interned at Pacific Bell [Telephone Company] and loved it.” Though Naylor eventually graduated with an undergraduate degree in sociology, he started his business career in a management trainee program at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Walking around HUSB, Naylor points to landmarks surrounding it, including the football stadium and a small building where he believes his grandmother, Thelma Hare Fitzhugh, who also attended HU, lived. Naylor talks about the sharp sense of humor he shared with his grandfather, and the magic tricks that his grandfather performed during holiday gatherings. “I wasn’t old enough to have a really deep conversation with him, so when he saw us [children in H. Naylor Fitzhugh and his wife, Thelma. BlackMBA • Summer 2008 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Black MBA - Summer 2008

Black MBA- Summer 2008 Contents Mailbag Up Front From the President & CEO Politics of Change Catalyst for Change: Results of our 2008 Political Poll Know Whose Shoulders You Stand On: The Legacy of H. Naylor Fitzhugh Howard University: Changing With the Times Straight Talk: CEO to CEO Creating Your Own Sandbox Dual Threats Avoiding the Faux Pa Invest in Your MBA Everything You Need to Know About...Estate Planning On Campus Plan Ahead The Big Show What's in a Name? On the Move Market Forecast Jeff Friday Keith Wyche Life Lessons On the Ground Real Biz A Golden Opportunity Entrepreneurial Institute Tech Tools Read for Success Stacey Tisdale Advertiser Index

Black MBA - Summer 2008

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