CONCLAVE 2021
Honorary Members Honorary Membership has been a part of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity since the first four faculty members were invited to join at Howard University in 1914. Over the years the fraternity has welcomed into the Brotherhood, some of the nation’s most esteemed and revered leaders from around the world. This year, three stellar role models accepted the invitation to join the ranks of Sigma Men. JOHN HOPE BRYANT
An American entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and prominent thought leader on economic empowerment and financial dignity, John Hope Bryant, born on February 6, 1966, in Los Angeles California, learned his lessons on money early in life. He recognized that if you don’t understand money, you’re essentially enslaved, and that being part of a capitalist system and not knowing the rules, or how things work, means that you aren’t included. An entrepreneur from childhood, Bryant’s awakening was triggered by the visit of a well-dressed white banker to his elementary school in Compton, California. The banker came to his class to talk about financial education for young people, but in a larger spectrum he would represent an aspiration beyond what was typical in Bryant’s reality. From that day, Bryant has been involved in business, starting his first venture at the age of 10 with a modest $10 investment from his mother. Today, Bryant is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE, Inc., a global nonprofit headquartered in Atlanta, GA, birthed just under three decades ago in response to the despair and destruction of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Under the banner of “silver rights”,
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Operation HOPE has aided over 4 million individuals worldwide, and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity for the disenfranchised—turning check cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners and minimum wage workers into living wage consumers. Bryant is also chairman and chief executive officer of Bryant Group Ventures, founder and principal of The Promise Homes Company, the largest for-profit, minoritycontrolled, owners of institutional quality, single-family residential rental homes in the U.S. and co-founder of Global Dignity. His work has been recognized by five past U.S. presidents, and he has served as an advisor to
three past sitting U.S. presidents. A member of the founding class of The Forum of Young Global Leaders, and founding member of Clinton Global Initiative, Bryant is a LinkedIn Influencer, contributor to Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, and ThriveGlobal, and a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network. His Facebook Live “Silver Rights” Straight Talk Series, and “Delivering The Memo” episodic series have received millions of views, and serve as engaging platforms to foster essential discussion in the digital space around financial inclusion and social uplift. He has received over 500 notable awards and citations for his work, including, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and recognition as one of Time magazine’s “50 Leaders for the Future,” in 1994.
