Jan 12, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The first African American elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio will be the key speaker at the breakfast meeting of the Men’s Leadership Forum speaker series next week.
The event, featuring Ohio Secretary of State J. Kennneth Blackwell, will be held Jan. 19 at the Tyson’s Corner Ritz-Carlton in Falls Church, Virginia. The breakfast starts at 7 a.m.
A committed Catholic, Blackwell has a distinguished record of achievement as an educator, diplomat and finance executive. Blackwell's public service includes terms as mayor of Cincinnati, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
In 1994, he became the first African American elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio when he was elected Treasurer of State.