Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Selects 2005 Leadership Award Honorees  

NEW YORK

Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Inc. announced the recipients of its annual Leadership Awards, which will be bestowed at TMSF's 18th Annual Anniversary Awards Dinner on November 7.

The Corporate Leadership Award recipient is Michael Szymanczyk, Chairman & CEO of Philip Morris USA Inc.; The Educational Leadership Award recipient is Portia Holmes Shields, president of Albany State University in Georgia; The Alumni Leadership Award recipient is Joseph Laymon, Group Vice President, Corporate Human Resources, Ford Motor Company; and the Community Leadership Awards recipient is William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and International Secretary & Treasurer, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

John Esposito, president & CEO, Moet Hennessy USA and Thomas J. McInerney, Chief Executive Officer of ING U.S. Financial Services and the 1998 Corporate Leadership Award recipient, are serving as co-chairs of TMSF's 18th Anniversary Awards Dinner.

TMSF's annual Leadership Awards recipients are selected based on their demonstrated commitment to advancing higher education and for exemplary leadership in their respective professions and community service. Leadership Award recipients are also selected based on their outstanding support of TMSF's mission of providing leadership development opportunities, scholarships and programmatic support to students and capacity-building support to its 47 member public HBCUs.

"These five honorees have made a measurable impact on furthering TMSF's mission, furthering higher education and advancing the transformation of young people into future leaders," said Dwayne Ashley, president & CEO of Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Inc. "They have each demonstrated outstanding leadership in their respective professions and communities and an exemplary commitment to TMSF that we will recognize at the gala."