2024 Fall Benefit Dinner
With great pride, A Better Chance is honored to announce the 2024 Fall Benefit Dinner to be held at Gotham Hall in New York City on October 21, 2024, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST!
We invite you to join us for an iconic evening as we celebrate over 60 years of providing transformational educational opportunities to students of color! The Benefit Dinner will bring together members of the A Better Chance Community for an event in support of making education more equitable and inclusive.
With the opportunity to hear from our scholars and this year's honorees, this is an event you don't want to miss. Please join us!
Gotham Hall
1356 Broadway, New York, NY 10018
October 21, 2024
6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Cocktail/Business Formal
Chairperson's Award Award Honoree
David Grain Chief Executive Office & Founder
Grain Management LLC
Dream Builder Award Award Honoree
Hakim Thompson Co-Head of Structured Lending & Financing (SLF) Risk
Barclays
Register
For other methods of payment, including check or wire, please contact development@abetterchance.org
Scholar Award Recipients
Jeamilett Martinez Judith Berry Griffin Award
St. Mark's School (MA)
The Judith Berry Griffin Award, named for Judith Berry Griffin, President of A Better Chance from 1982–2003, carries with it a monetary award of $5,000 and is awarded to a senior who has shown exceptional and steadfast determination to achieve. The recipient demonstrates success through perseverance toward personal objectives, in spite of obstacles that might have impeded his or her progress.
Sofia Gauna-Torres Nancy J. Lucas Award
Lick-Wilmerding High School
The Nancy J. Lucas Memorial Award was established in loving memory of our Senior Program Coordinator who served the New York Metro Area from 1985 to 2002. Ms. Lucas’s family, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sisters, A Better Chance colleagues, and countless Alumni who benefited from her services have endowed this award. The award, and the $3,500 that accompanies it, is given to a Scholar who demonstrates leadership in promoting equity and justice at his or her school or offers special encouragement to peers.
Jaiden Jefferson The Sandra E. Timmons Award
Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences
The Sandra E. Timmons Award, established in 2024, is awarded to a senior Scholar who exceeds in the classroom and out, demonstrates success in spite of obstacles, is a leader on campus, and hopes to pursue a degree in business and economics. Further, recipients have taken advantage of the most challenging courses in their schools’ rigorous curriculum specific to business and economics and have demonstrated their academic prowess in doing so. Specifically, awardees will have taken and scored a four or above in two of the following advanced placement (AP) courses: AP Calculus AB or BC, AP Stats, AP Microeconomics, and AP Macroeconomics. Each Award winner receives a gift of $1,500
Visentin Scholar Award Recipients
The Visentin Award is named for John Visentin, a dear friend of A Better Chance and the former President & CEO of Xerox. Mr. Visentin was a champion for the transformative power of education and innovation. In that spirit, this award is presented to two senior Scholars who have developed distinctive solutions to challenges faced by their school, community, or family. The Award will preference Scholars who have demonstrated financial need and who are interested in pursuing studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, or math.
Arianna Nelson
The Madeira School
Chloe Hayden
The Archer Schools for Girls
Academic Achievement Award
Daniel Montano
Convent & Stuart Hall - Schools of the Sacred Heart
Ezinne Okonkwo
The Thacher School
Jordan Adeyemi
Phillips Exeter Academy
Joshua Paz
The Kew-Forest School
Natalia Somma Tang
Culver Academies
Benefit Committee
A Better Chance thanks the following individuals who are devoting their time and talent to making this year's Benefit Dinner a success!
Committee Co-Chair
- Roger G. Arrieux Jr.
- Peter and Laurie Atkins
- Daniel and Alexis DiBiasio
- Rob and Ellen Fullerton
- Ekene Ezulike
- Gennell Jefferson
- Theo Killion*
- Sheila Marmon Heuer* and Steve Heuer
- Karen Price-Ward
- Kurt and Roxanna Van Wagenen
- George Wilson* and Andrea Nixon
* denotes A Better Chance Alumni
Thank You To Our Sponsors
A Better Chance’s work is not possible without the generous support of our donors and partners. We thank the following individuals, Alumni* and institutional and corporate partners who made significant contributions to the 2024 Benefit Dinner.
Presenting Sponsor
- Xerox
Valedictorian Sponsor
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Summa Cum Laude Sponsor
- Brookfield Asset Management
- Deloitte
- Daniel and Alexis DiBiasio
- Eryn Ament Bingle and Michael Bingle
- Malik Ducard
- Peter and Laurie Atkins
- Rob and Ellen Fullerton
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Morgan Stanley
- Theo Killion*
- The Vistria Group
- Sheila Marmon Heuer* and Steve Heuer
- Danielle Lee
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
- Kurt and Roxanna Van Wagenen
- Stephen Wolf
- TD Securities
- UPS
- Wells Fargo
Magna Cum Laude Sponsor
- Bank Street Group
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
- CoBank
- Michell Gittens
- Guggenheim Securities
- CVS Health
- Robert and Jane Julius
- Mr. Hakim and Mrs. LaurenThompson
- LightRiver & Summit Broadband
- Martin Nesbitt
- Kate and Bob Niehaus
- Evercore Partners
- Phoneix Tower International
- PJT Partners
- Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
- Siebert Williams Shank
- Spectrotel
- Stanley Black & Decker
- Teneo
Cum Laude Sponsor
- Alston & Bird LLP
- Mark Bowling
- Covington
- SMBC
- Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation
- Innisfree M&A Incorporated
- Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
- KPMG LLP
- Mckinsey & Company
- Nokia
- TEG Consulting
Digital Journal Advertisement Sponsor
- Casaly and Parent Charitable Fund
- Crane Charitable Funds
- Stefan Kaluzny
- Leigh Abramson
- Sycamore Partners
- Marsh McLennan
- Network Wireless Solutions
- Quintillion
- Wiggin and Dana LLP
Salutatorian Ticket
- Alvarez & Marsal
- Brown Advisory
- Fifth Third Bank
- Whit Clay
- National Basketball Association (2)
- Nicole Melwood
- Robert and Sydney Kinder Foundation
- Richard Lennox
- Jimmy Haber
- WilmerHale
- Ronal Pressman
- Alan Schwartz
- Michael Rogan and Susan Schaffer
- Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius
- Tim McChristian and Deborah Steer (2)
- David Sutphen
- Don and Jennifer Torey
- Brian Wolfe