FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 12, 2007

CONTACT: Joan johnson, 603-646-2839

HANOVER, N.H.—Tuck School of Business Professor Leonard Greenhalgh has received the U.S. Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) lifetime achievement award for his continued work with America's minority business owners. Greenhalgh is director of programs for minority- and women-owned business enterprises for Tuck Executive Education.

Presented at MBDA's 25th Minority Enterprise Development Week Gala in Washington, D.C. in September, the award recognizes Tuck's achievements in fostering the growth and development of minority businesses.

"I am really proud of Tuck for having taken this stance and making an investment in the future of minorities," says Greenhalgh. "Personally, it's enjoyable being part of something that makes a difference on a national scale."

Since 1980, 4,500 high-performing minority- and women-owned businesses have benefited from participating in Tuck’s suite of programs tailored to their needs. Thousands more have attended shorter events focused on helping them survive, prosper, and grow their businesses to scale.

Greenhalgh says most people who start entrepreneurial ventures know how to deliver a service or manufacture a product better than they know how to run the business. This leads to high failure rates, and has serious implications for the nation's inner cities, poor rural communities, and Indian reservations, where job and wealth creation is tied to the success of minority business owners.

"Minorities will become the majority by mid-century and if they are not economically self-sufficient, the U.S. economy suffers," says Greenhalgh, who taught in Tuck's first minority program in 1980. "Everybody should be concerned about this issue."

Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management in the country and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Tuck remains distinctive among the world's great business schools by combining human scale with global reach, rigorous coursework with experiences requiring teamwork, and valued traditions with innovation.