Glenn E. Hames
Director of Strategic Partnerships
The United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation
Falls Church, Va.
Age: 39
Glenn E. Hames is the director of strategic partnerships at the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corp., a nonprofit spin-off of the United Negro College Fund. Among his accomplishments, he lists recruiting more than 50 of the nation’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities with science, technology and engineering capabilities to collaborate with Fortune 500 businesses in a $20 million research and development consortium.
Hames began his career as an engineer with Cummins Engine Co. and Convatec, a Bristol-Myers Squibb company. He later became a middle-school math teacher in Maryland and was named Teacher of the Year in his second year. “Being a school teacher allowed me to give back to the educational community,” he notes. He joined QSS Group shortly afterward as a mechanical engineer and moved into market research before leaving for a position in business development at Macro International Inc., his last stop before UNCFSP. While at Macro International, he earned a master’s degree in business administration at The College of William & Mary, adding to the bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering he had obtained from North Carolina A&T State University. He is successful because he sought out opportunities, he says. “I had to be consistently persistent and not wait for someone to tell me what to do.”
Hames is a proud single father of a teenage son, Channing, an experience that inspires him to one day start a Web publication geared toward single fathers. His achievements must serve as a declaration to his son, and he says, “That if you commit to yourself and your education, you will reap what you sow.” Hames also serves as a mentor for the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. service project “Go-to-High School, Go-to-College,” which teaches young men strategies and skills that ensure academic success beyond the high-school level.
Fun Facts
Favorite food: Filet mignon
Last movie: “Inception”
Favorite comedian: Cedric the Entertainer
