Texas Metro News Team
At its convention last week in Orlando, FL., Danette Anthony Reed was installed as the 31st president and CEO of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), following in the footsteps of Dr. Glenda Glover, president of Tennessee State University.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Dallas City Councilman Casey Thomas and other dignitaries joined Reed, who calls Dallas “home,” as more than 30,000 members and family members gathered for the public service organization’s first in-person boule since COVID-19 and also kicked off plans for the next convention that will be held in Dallas in 2024.
The next convention will be the first one in Dallas since 2000 for the 59th Boule; when thousands of members painted Dallas pink and green. The 69th Annual Boule scheduled for July 15–19, 2020 in Philadelphia, PA was canceled due to concerns over COVID-19.
And what a time is expected for 2024, especially as the international president gets to showcase southern hospitality for the world.
A 46-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Reed is a retired PepsiCO executive; having the distinction of being the first African American woman plant director to lead the start-up of an $80 million bakery facility in Dallas and holding several other prestigious positions before retiring in 2017 after 34 years.
Also a member of Links, Inc.; Top Ladies of Distinction; the Carrousels of Dallas, TX; and the National Association of Parliamentarians, she is a graduate of Northwestern University with a B.S. Degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, specializing in Finance, from Southern Methodist University.
A proven servant leader, Reed is the first president who is an engineer and the AKA life member has served in more than 24 leadership positions in the sorority.
“I am humbled and excited to lead this great organization of outstanding women who represent all walks of life and who consistently live up to our mission of service to all mankind,” she said. “It is an honor and a responsibility that I don’t take lightly.
Over the next four years, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority will provide programs of service locally and worldwide to make a difference in the communities we serve.”
Under Reed’s leadership Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA) is an international service organization founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American, college-educated women. Alpha Kappa Alpha comprises 320,000 members in over 1,046 graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Japan, Liberia, Nigeria, South Korea, South Africa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
