The legacy of 91制片厂 and its School of Business Administration includes some of the most influential leaders in business history. From world-renowned scholars to innovative entrepreneurs, the School has long served as the source for future-forward business leadership for more than seven decades.

 

 

##  Leaders 

  ![A man speaks to a crowd seated in a dimly lit room.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2025-12/Picture11%20%281%29.png.webp?itok=9l-ctATZ)  

From the beginning, the CAU School of Business Administration has been led by forward-thinking educators, many of whom were among the nation鈥檚 **first** African Americans to earn advanced degrees in accounting, economics, and finance.

These trailblazers mentored generations of minority business leaders, conducted the country鈥檚 earliest research on black businesses, and led nationally acclaimed initiatives focused on the economic challenges facing the African American Community.

   Atlanta University School of Business Administration  - **Lorimer D. Milton** Director/Dean -1946-1952
- **Samuel Z. Westerfield Jr.** Dean**-** 1952- 1961
- **Harding B. Young** Dean**-** 1961-1969
- **Robert Vowels** Dean**-** 1969-1978
- **George Neffinger** Acting Dean**-** 1976
- **Augustus Sterne** Dean**-** 1978-1982
- **Roosevelt Thomas** Dean**-** 1982-1983
- **Johnnie Clark** Dean**-** 1983-1985
- **Robert Lynn** Acting Dean**-**1985-1988

 

 

   Clark College Department of Business Administration & Economics  - **Reverend C.J. Brown** Principal, Business College -1883-1886
- **George L. Griswold** Head of the Department -1927-1930
- **Adolphus B. Wright** (AU '27) Department Chair -1930-1955
- **Larzette G. (Hale) Wilson** Department Chair -1955-1960
- **William T. Robie** (CC '48) Department Chair -1960-1966
- **James A. Hefner** (AU '62) Department Chair -1970
- **Gladys W. Cothran** Department Chair -1967-1969
- **Barbara A.P. Jones** Department Chair - 1971-1980
- **Barbara M. Brown** Department Chair - 1981-1984
- **William H. Brown** Acting Department Chair -1984-1989

**BUSINESS EDUCATION**

- **Gladys W. Cothran** Chair, Business Education-1969-1970
- **Jennye T. Harland** Chair, Business Education 1970-1977
- **Jane Dawkins** Chair, Business Education 1978-2000

 

 

   91制片厂 School of Business Administration  - **Robert Lynn** Acting Dean- 1988-1989
- **Edward D. Irons** Dean- 1990-1995
- **Edward Davis** Dean- 1999-2004; Acting Dean**-** 1995-1999, 2007-2010 **|** 2015-2017
- **Jonathan Jefferson** Dean**-** 2004-2007
- **Lydia McKinley-Floyd** Dean**-** 2010-2012
- **Charles T. Moses** Interim Dean**-** 2012-2015
- **Kasim Alli** Interim Dean**- 2017-2018**
- **Silvanus J. Udoka** Dean**-** 2018- Present

 

 

 

 

 

##  Luminaries 

The 91制片厂 School of Business Administration has built a strong community of trailblazing business luminaries throughout its history. They are an illustrious group of alumni, educators, and entrepreneurs whose historic achievements reflect the School鈥檚 commitment to excellence.

   Richard R. Wright 1876  - Atlanta University鈥檚 First Valedictorian (1876)
- First African American to serve Paymaster in the US Army (1898)
- Founder of Citizens and Southern Bank & Trust Company,Philadelphia's first black-owned Trust Company (1921)
- Founder of the National Bankers Association (1927)

 

 

   Dr. Thomas W. Haigler 1884  - Among the first graduates of Clark University鈥檚 Business College in 1884.
- Founded Tennessee鈥檚 third African American medical school, the Chattanooga National Medical College, (1898-1904)

 

 

   Luther Judson Price 1884  - Among the first graduates of Clark University鈥檚 Business College in 1884.
- Merchant and South Atlanta鈥檚 first black Postmaster (1889).

 

 

   Samuel A. Cunningham 1889  - Founder, Cunningham & Sons, one of Atlanta鈥檚 first African American-owned real estate companies (1892)
- Member, Clark University Board of Trustees (1908-1932)

 

 

   Harry H. Pace 1903  - Founder of Pace Phonograph Corporation and Black Swan Records, the first record label owned by an African American with wide distribution capabilities (1921).
- Founder of the Northeastern Life Insurance Company the largest African-American-owned business in the North during the 1930s.
- Chartered the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP in 1917 with Dr. Charles S. Johnson and fellow Alums: James Weldon Johnson (1894), Dr. Louis T. Wright (1911), and Walter Francis White (1916)

 

 

   Wendell T. Cunningham 1913  - Clark University Alumnus who becomes the first known African American graduate of Harvard Business School in 1915.
- Joins his father鈥檚 firm, Cunningham & Sons, one of Atlanta鈥檚 first African American-owned real estate companies in 1916.

 

 

   Norris B. Herndon 1919  - Son of Atlanta's first African-American millionaire businessman Alonzo F. Herndon and Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil Henderson, Atlanta University鈥檚 first director of dramatics and elocution in 1895
- Atlanta University Alumnus who becomes one of the first African Americans to graduate from Harvard Business School in 1921.
- Succeeded his father as president of African American-owned Atlanta Life insurance Company in 1927 and grew its assets from $1M to $84M by 1973.
- Created the Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation to advance the Herndon legacy through education, mentoring, and preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs.

 

 

   Wilhelmina J. Gilbert '42  - Assoc. Professor who helped to build the Business Administration program at Bennett College
- Served as executive assistant to Clark College President James P. Brawley (1943-1950)

 

 

   Marva Knight Collins '57  - Founded the nationally renowned Westside Preparatory School in Chicago
- Graduated Clark College with degree in Secretarial Sciences in Dept. of Business Administration

 

 

   Clayton R. Yates 1920  - Co-founded Atlanta鈥檚 first African American-owned Drugstore Chain, Yates & Milton Drugstore (1923) with Lorimer D. Milton, the first Dean of Atlanta University鈥檚 School of Business Administration.

 

 

   Ardie Clark Halyard 1920  - Co-founded the first Black-owned savings and loan in Milwaukee, Columbia Savings and Loan Association (1925).

 

 

   Joseph A. Pierce 1925  - Chair of the Atlanta University Department of Mathematics (1930)
- Authored the study, Negro Business and Business Education which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Atlanta University School of Business. (1944)

 

 

   Adolphus B. Wright 1927  - Professor and first Chair of the Clark College Department of Business Administration (1930-1955).

 

 

   Sammye Griffin Dennis 1931  - First woman to major in and receive a degree in business administration at Clark College.

 

 

   Mary Ellen (Barnes) Johnson '38  - Co-Founder/Manager of the accredited Johnson Schools of Business *in Little Rock, Ark and Jackson, MS*
- Served as secretary at the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, while a graduate student

 

 

   Powell W. Holly Jr. '47  - First graduate of the Atlanta University School of Business Administration

 

 

   Birnell D. Rivers '47  - First woman to graduate from the Atlanta University School of Business Administration

 

 

   Asumoh Ete Ekukinam 1953-55  - Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria (1976-1977)

 

 

   Alexander B. Cummings Jr. '82 MBA-Finance  - Chair/Founder, Cummings Investment Holdings
- EVP/Chief Administrative Officer, The Coca-Cola Company (2002-16)
- Board Chair, 91制片厂 Board of Trustees (2013-2016)

 

 

   Freedom Phuthuma Nhleko '87 MBA-Finance  - Chief Executive and Executive Chairman, MTN Group, a pan-African and Middle Eastern mobile telecommunications company(2002-2011)