By Laurie D. Willis
Livingstone CollegeNews Service
An executive in the U.S. Department of Education will deliver the keynote address Wednesday during the S.E. Duncan Honors Convocation at Livingstone College.
The Honors Convocation begins at 10 a.m. in Varick Auditorium and is open to the public. Duncan is a former Livingstone College president whose descendants still have close ties to the college.
Lenny F. Springs II, senior advisor to the Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid for Traditionally Under-Resourced Schools, will speak during the honors ceremony, which celebrates students with outstanding academic records. Springs works in the Education Department and with FSA leadership to provide support for under-resourced colleges and universities, including HBCUs, members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities and other organizations devoted to helping schools transition successfully to the Direct Loan Program.
Springs, of Charlotte, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Voorhees College in South Carolina and a doctor of humane letters from Voorhees.
Before accepting his position in the Department of Education, Springs was president and CEO of The S-Group, Inc., an organizational development and strategic management consulting firm which specializes in developing and implementing business management and business development processes, to include diversity strategies and initiatives. In addition, he served as executive vice president of sales and marketing, business development for Urban Settlement Services, the largest home retention loan modification company in the United States.
Springs, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., also served as president of Queen City Venture Partners, LLC, a Charlotte minority investment firm. He also worked for the former Wachovia Corporation, joining when it was still called First Union.
Springs serves on the NAACP’s national board of directors, the NAACP Special Contribution Fund board of trustees and is the Founding President of the Charlotte chapter of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. He’s also past national chairman of development of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and serves on the board of directors of Mechanics & Farmers Bank.
Springs specializes in promoting public awareness and instituting progressive initiatives for community and business development. For more than 25 years, he has designed, developed and implemented numerous programs for small and minority businesses and educational advancement programs. He was recognized as one of America’s top corporate officers in the September 1992 edition of Dollars and Sense magazine, and he was appointed by the Clinton administration to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group.
Springs has authored many business and banking articles in local, regional and national publications and has received numerous awards and recognitions from the public and private sector.