The ALE Conference is the longest running conference at the Ross School of Business and the University of Michigan. In its 49 years of existence, the conference has engaged attendees around the issues, challenges, and opportunities encountered by underrepresented minorities in the business world. It has historically attracted hundreds of attendees from around the country, including current and prospective students, Ross alumni, industry leaders, and corporate recruiters.
The conference is named in honor of Dr. Alfred L. Edwards, an esteemed professor at the University of Michigan and a mentor to many underrepresented minority students on campus. Dr. Edwards once said, "We must make sure that the doors that were opened for us, do not become closed for others." It is in this spirit that we gather as a community for this 49-year tradition.
This year's theme is the The Legacy Lives On: Celebrating our Roots, Building our Future. Our hope is to use ALE 49 as the launching pad for necessary conversations around the current state and future state of African Americans in this nation. This conference will discuss the intersection of race, policy and business in America and the path forward to this aforementioned reshaping. Through talks from industry and community leaders, we hope to shed more light on the plight of Black America and the levers individuals and organizations can pull to maximize their role in the elevation and proliferation of Black success.