Alumni Awards
Each year the African-American Student Union (AASU), Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association (HBSAAA) and Bert King Foundation join together to honor HBS alumni for their achievements, leadership, personal integrity and commitment to service.The Professional Achievement Award- Peter C. B. Bynoe (MBA ‘75/JD’76)
Peter Bynoe, senior counsel in the Chicago office of DLA Piper and, since February 2008, a partner in Loop Capital, a Chicago-based investment banking firm, was named to the Fortune Diversity 2005 list of the most influential African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans in business, sports, politics, academia, and the arts. Prior to joining DLA Piper in 1995, Mr. Bynoe founded, in 1982, Telemat Ltd., a privately held project management, and investment and financial services consulting firm which serves as a platform for a wide range of transactions.
From March 1988 to June 1992, Mr. Bynoe served as the Executive Director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, a joint venture of the City of Chicago and State of Illinois created to develop a new Comiskey Park for the Chicago White Sox. He was responsible for all aspects of planning and executing the development of this $250 million project, which was completed on time and several million dollars under budget.
Mr. Bynoe subsequently served as a consultant to the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority and the Atlanta Committee to Organize the Olympic Games in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, and was subsequently involved in the conversion of the Olympic Stadium to a baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves, developing the $210 million budget for the stadium's construction, and negotiating a lease agreement that induced the Braves to occupy the renovated facility.
As head of DLA Piper's Sports Facilities Practice Group, Mr. Bynoe focused his practice on the development and financing of major infrastructure projects, nationwide. He provided leadership in stadium development deals, joint venture projects, and sale/purchase agreements spanning the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. Mr. Bynoe recently led a team from the firm’s London office that was chosen by the London Olympic Delivery Authority to provide legal services related to the required infrastructure and facility development for the 2012 London Olympics.
In 1989, Mr. Bynoe made history as the first minority owner of an NBA franchise after executing the $65 million acquisition of the Denver Nuggets, and served as Managing General Partner. After overseeing the complete reorganization of the team, on and off the court, Mr. Bynoe sold his interest in1992.
The Bert King Award for Service- Dennis F. Hightower (MBA '74)
Dennis F. Hightower is a retired business executive with over 30 years of strategic management consulting, operational and strategic planning, and international general management experience. Most recently, until March 2001, he was Chief Executive Officer of Europe Online Networks, S.A., a privately held Luxembourg-based broadband interactive entertainment company. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Hightower was Professor of Management at Harvard Business School, where his teaching focused on leadership, managing change, building emerging markets, and global management from the perspective of the general manager. He taught in the first year MBA Program and in senior executive programs in South Africa and in the Middle East to train future leaders of those regions.
He retired as a senior executive of The Walt Disney Company in 1996, having served as President of Walt Disney Television & Telecommunications and previously as President of Disney Consumer Products – Europe, Middle East and Africa. In his last executive position with Disney, Hightower managed worldwide production, marketing and distribution of Disney network TV and TV animation, syndication and pay TV, home video, and interactive entertainment; and Disney’s operational support to the Americast joint venture with its four telephone company partners. Hightower also led Disney’s entry into Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and post-apartheid South Africa.
Earlier in his career, Hightower was a manager at Xerox Corporation; senior associate and engagement manager at McKinsey & Co., Inc.; vice president and general manager with General Electric in Mexico; vice president of corporate planning and a corporate officer of Mattel, Inc.; and managing director and Los Angeles office manager with Russell Reynolds, Inc.
He is a guest lecturer at management conferences and business schools throughout the world and serves as a director of Accenture Ltd.; Brown Capital Management; and Domino’s Pizza, Inc. Previously, he served as a board member of The Gillette Company, Northwest Airlines, Inc., PanAmSat Corporation, Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, Price Waterhouse Chairman’s Advisory Council, and The TJX Companies, Inc. His nonprofit engagement includes service as a Trustee of Casey Family Programs and Co-Chair of the Camp Atwater Advisory Council. He was a founding member of the Bert King Foundation Board and the Ron Brown Scholar Program Selection Committee. He has been a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and the Board of Visitors at Harvard Business School, a Trustee of Howard University, Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs at Morehouse College; and a member of the boards of The Corcoran Gallery of Art and The French Heritage Society.