Dr. Randal Pinkett has established himself as an entrepreneur, speaker, author, scholar and community servant. He is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of BCT Partners, a multimillion dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm based in Newark, NJ. BCT Partners works with corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations in the areas of housing and community development, economic development, human services, nonprofit and community technology, healthcare and education. A partial list of BCT's clients includes: Johnson & Johnson, Ford Foundation, Pfizer, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hewlett-Packard, Annie E. Casey Foundation and Microsoft.

Prior to founding BCT Partners, Dr. Pinkett obtained corporate experience as a Member of Technical Staff at General Electric, AT&T Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. A "serial entrepreneur", he also previously launched four socially responsible business ventures. First, Dr. Pinkett co-founded MBS Enterprises, selling compact discs and cassette tapes out of his dormitory in college and using the proceeds to fund high school outreach activities. MBS later evolved into his second venture, MBS Educational Services & Training, a firm committed to providing the highest caliber training and development for emerging and seasoned professionals. MBS's past clients include General Motors, the United Negro College Fund, Exxon, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), Merck & Company, Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Johnson & Johnson, PNC Bank, Citigroup and Corning Incorporated. Third, Dr. Pinkett co-founded the Inner City Consulting Group, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm that specialized in the unique needs of inner city communities. Fourth, in affiliation with One Economy, Dr. Pinkett co-founded Access One Corporation, with a mission to ensure that affordable housing was equipped for the 21st century by implementing innovative, sustainable, broadband network and telecommunications solutions. BCT Partners represents his fifth and latest business venture, whereas across all five of his companies and to this day, Dr. Pinkett has maintained a relationship as business partners with his close friends and college classmates, Mr. Lawrence Hibbert, BCT's Chief Technology Officer; Mr. Dallas Grundy, former BCT Chief Operating Officer; and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, Chair of BCT's Advisory Board and Professor at New York University (NYU).

A sought after public speaker for corporate, youth and community groups, Dr. Pinkett has been featured in Black Enterprise and Ebony, in their "30 Leaders Under 30" issue, as well as featured in Parade magazine, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and in segments on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and CNN. He is a Leadership New Jersey (LNJ) Fellow, a Next Generation Leadership (NGL) Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and is a recipient of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Fellowship, Lucent Technologies Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP), University of Oxford Graduate Scholarship, MOBE Innovators and Influencers of the Internet Award, National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) National Member of the Year, USA TODAY College All-Academic First Team, NCAA Academic All-American, NCAA Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship, New Jersey Martin Luther King Commemorative Commission Triumph Award, and the MIT Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, from among a host of other recognitions and accolades.

Dr. Pinkett holds five academic degrees including the following: Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, that he completed with a 3.9 GPA while serving as President of MEET, the Rutgers Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and Captain of the Rutgers University Varsity Men's Track and Field team competing as a high jumper and long jumper; Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Computer Science from Oxford University, England as a Rhodes Scholar; Master of Science (S.M.) in Electrical Engineering from the MIT School of Engineering and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management as a participant in the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program; and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the MIT Media Laboratory. Most notably, Dr. Pinkett made history as the first African-American ever to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University.

A published writer and academic scholar, in addition to more than 20 papers and articles he has authored chapters in four books including: Managing IT/Community Partnerships in the 21st Century; Journey to the Ph.D.: How to Navigate the Process as African-Americans; Community Practice in the Network Society: Local Action/Global Interaction; and The Network Society: A Cross-cultural Perspective. His master's thesis at the University of Oxford was entitled, "Hardware/Software Co-Design and Digital Speech Processing". His master's thesis at MIT was entitled, "Product Development Process Modeling and Analysis of Digital Wireless Telephones." His doctoral dissertation at MIT was entitled, "Creating Community Connections: Sociocultural Constructionism and an Asset-Based Approach to Community Technology and Community Building." Lastly, he is currently co-authoring a book with his Rutgers roommate and business partner, Dr. Jeffrey Robinson with Sakina Spruell-Cole, tentatively entitled, “Black Faces in White Places,” which chronicles their experiences as African Americans who were educated in predominantly white institutions.

Dr. Pinkett maintains an active involvement in helping to address issues facing underserved communities, communities of color and the nonprofit organizations that serve them. BCT Partners does considerable work with community-based organizations; his doctoral dissertation at MIT examined the role of high technology in improving the quality of life for low-income residents; and he is a member of the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute (NJPPRI), the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN) and the Institute for Innovation in Government Technology (IIGT) and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Community Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet).

Born in Philadelphia, PA, as the son of the Late Leslie Pinkett and Elizabeth Pinkett, and raised in East Windsor, NJ, along with his brother, Dan, a manager at Prudential Insurance Company, he currently resides in Somerset, NJ, where he is happily married to Zahara Wadud-Pinkett, a Senior Alumni Relations Officer at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is a proud member of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, NJ, and firmly believes that "to whom much is given, much is expected."
 

Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business
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By Dr. Randal Pinkett

ISBN: 1419593714
Pub. Date: February 2007
Format: Paperback, 256pp
Publisher: Kaplan Inc.

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Agent: Earl Cox, Earl Cox & Associates,  E-mail: earl@earlcox.com, Toll Free Telephone: 877-Earl-Cox

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students in the U.S. enter college totally clueless as to their choice of a major, and even less sure about what they will do with the rest of their lives. But for a growing number of students, the financial pressures of college are far more taxing than the academic rigors of campus life. As a result, many students rely heavily on financial aid, loans, part-time jobs, strict budgets, and whatever money their parents can afford to send them. Many students take dead-end jobs with no relevance to their college programs, while others even work on a full-time basis--sacrificing grades for dollars--and unwittingly setting themselves up to become college drop-outs.

However, students don't have to suffer through a penniless college existence, nor must they wait until after graduation to find a career and make money. Instead, they can generate income by launching their own businesses while on campus, taking advantage of the period in their lives during which any number of once-in-a-lifetime perks and resources are readily available to them. The Campus CEO walks any would-be entrepreneur through all the necessary steps to launching a profitable, campus-based business, while simultaneously achieving academic success. Regardless of major, background, or area of interest, readers of The Campus CEO will learn how to turn their academic and professional dreams into reality.

The Network Society: A Cross-cultural Perspective
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by Manuel Castells (Editor)

ISBN: 1843765055
Pub. Date: November 2004
Format: Hardcover, 464pp
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, Incorporated

Chapter: Narrowing the Digital Divide: The Potential and Limits of the US Community Technology Movement

Citation: Pinkett, Randal D. & Servon, Lisa. (2004). Narrowing the Digital Divide: The Potential and Limits of the US Community Technology Movement. In Castells, M. (Ed.), The Network Society: A Cross-cultural Perspective. Cheltenham, Glos: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd.
 

Technology, says Castells (U. of Southern California, Los Angeles, and the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona), cannot be considered independently of its social context. For policy makers, business and management experts, and academics in the social sciences, communications studies, and business, he presents 19 contributed articles inquiring into some key themes in various cultural and institutional contexts. They offer theoretical discussion of the network society followed by analysis of processes of technological transformation in Silicon Valley, Finland, Russia, China, and the UK. Subsequent chapters discuss the economy, sociability and social structure, the public interest, social movements and politics, and identity, culture, globalization, the hacker ethic, and a historian's view. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Journey to the Ph.D.: How to Navigate the Process as African Americans
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by Anna L. Green (Editor), Lekita V. Scott (Editor), Brenda Jarmon (Foreword by)

ISBN: 1579220797
Pub. Date: October 2003
Format: Paperback, 240pp
Publisher: Stylus Publishing (VA)

Chapter: Five Degrees and a Ph.D.: Positive Detours Along the Path to the Doctorate

Citation: Pinkett, Randal D. (2003). Five Degrees and a Ph.D.: Positive Detours Along the Path to the Doctorate. To appear in Green, A. & Scott, L. (Eds.), Journey to the Ph.D.: How to Navigate the Process as African Americans. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Whether or not you're the first in your family to embark on this journey, you are aware that you will meet barriers and prejudice, are likely to face isolation and frustration, and find few sources of support along the way. This book, by twenty-four Black scholars who "have been there," offers a guide to the formal application process and to the personal, emotional and intellectual challenges you are likely to face. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines -- from computing, education and literature to science and sociology. Although their experiences and backgrounds are as varied as they are as individuals, their richly diverse chapters cohere into a rounded guide to the issues for those who follow in their footsteps.

From questioning the reader about his or her reasons for pursuing a doctorate, offering advice on financial issues, the choice of university and doctoral program, and relocation, through the process and timetable of application, interviews, acceptance and rejection, the authors go on to describe their own journeys and the lessons they have learned. These men and women write candidly about their experiences, the strategies they used to maintain their motivation, make the transition from HBCUs to PWIs, balance family and work, make the right choices and keep focused on priorities. They discuss how to work effectively with advisors and mentors, make all-important connections with teachers and build professional and personal support networks. They recount how they dealt with tokenism, established credibility, handled racism, maintained their values and culture, and persuaded supervisors to legitimize their research interests in African American issues.
 

Related Links

Dr. Randal Pinkett's Website
The Official Website of Dr. Randal Pinkett, President and CEO of BCT Partners and NBC's The Apprentice with Donald Trump.
http://www.randalpinkett.com/

NBC.com > The Apprentice 4A
Leadership New Jersey Fellow and Next Generation Leadership Fellow, Randal has been featured by Black Enterprise magazine and Ebony magazine
http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/candidates/bio_randal.shtml

 

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