REMARKS PREPARED TO BE ENTERED INTO 

THE RECORD OF THE 

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS 

PUBLIC HEARING 

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 

SEPTEMBER 17,1998 

Distinguished Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, good morning.. 

I am Deborah Saweuyer-Parks, CEO of the Oregon Corporation for Affordable Housing 

(OCAH) in Portland, Oregon. We are a nonprofit syndicator of federal Low-Income 

Housing Tax Credits, and invest exclusively in affordable multifamily housing. 

I am here today to testify in support of the proposed merger between Norwest 

Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company. If you will permit, I would like to request 

your indulgence and share OCAH’s story. 

My remarks this morning are designed to illustrate what can be done when a local 

nonprofit corporation partners with a large financial institution new to the Oregon 

market. Specifically, 1 am talking about Wells Fargo & Company. 

I founded the Oregon Corporation for Affordable Housing five and one half years ago. 

Our aim was to raise capital from Oregon’s corporate and financial community and 

reinvest that capital in multifamily affordable housing throughout the State of Oregon. It 

was my hope to demonstrate that it was realistic to merge social objectives with business 

goals, and create an opportunity that was worthwhile for both the public and private 

sectors. Our economy was robust so we planned to help to eliminate a social need in 

Oregon, which was to finance a portion of then projected 50,000 affordable housing units 

necessary to house over 100,000 working poor and their families. 

The vehicle I created was the Oregon Equity Fund, a nonprofit limited partnership 

designed to provide equity to developers of affordable housing. I then proceeded to raise 

$20 million for our first fond. We called it by the very technical name of “Fund I” 

As the story goes, the first % 18 million was reasonably secured, the last $2 million was 

obtained only after my Chairman, Mr. John R. Olsen, placed a call to the former Vice 

Chair of the then First Interstate Bank. I certainly understood following that call that 

firmly established relationships could be a key to success. 

Since Fund I was so successful, we decided to try our luck again and Fund II was 

conceived. Raising equity this time was extremely difficult at best. Former Fund I 

participants either created their own $100 million plus funds or merged with other 

financial institutions. 

Even the former CEO of First Interstate retreated from an earlier indication of an 

investment equal to the first one. 
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After some months past, I went to the newest bank town, Wells Fargo & Company. I 

spoke with the Executive Vice President and asked if the bank had an appetite for this 

type of affordable housing investment. She instantly said yes and added “by the time you 

return to your office (which is just across the street) I’ll call your office with the name of 

the person you should call.” True to her word, by the time I got across the street, she had 

already called and left a message to call Karen Wegman. I then left for a meeting and 

upon my return to my office, Bob Taylor of Wells Fargo called and arranged a meeting 

with me. Six weeks later, after a thorough due diligence by the bank, Oregon Equity 

Fund II had a new $4 million partner, Wells Fargo & Company. 

One year later we decided to launch Fund III. By this time we had $37 million in 

corporate investments and provided 721 units in communities throughout the state. But it 

was not enough, our housing crisis continued to escalate. We aggressively moved 

forward with Fund III. After documenting the results from Fund II and showing the 

housing product in the portfolio, I again asked Wells Fargo & Company to invest. This 

time our request was for $10 million. They said yes and also agreed to make the 

partnership a $10 million dollar bridge loan. 

For my Board, and those of us who manage the Fund, the level of commitment 

demonstrated to date by Wells Fargo & Company haa been extraordinary. Our combined 

funds now stand at $63 million, $16 million of which came from Wells Fargo & 

Company and represents the largest investment in the Funds. We currently have 

approximately $8 million left and we expect to place the balance within six months. 

Have we rid our state of its affordable housing crisis? No. But we have made 

unbelievable strides to house people in communities throughout the state. The following 

are a few examples of the results that we were able to achieve because of Wells Fargo & 

Company’s investment: 

- In Medford, a southern Oregon community, we invested in 80 townhome units 

comprised of 1,2, 3 and 4 bedrooms, for families earning 60 percent of area median 

income. No affordable multifamily housing had been built in Medford for more than 

20 years. 

- In Ontario, located in the Eastern Oregon bordering Idaho, 40 units for farmworkers 

and their families were built. This project represents the first new construction in 

over 10 years and it is the most beautiful development in town. 

- In Cannon Beach, on the Oregon coast, my personal favorite. This is a very aMuent 

community and one that was extremely resistant to providing housing to “those 

people” who were employed as service workers in the town. Many of these workers 

commuted over 150 miles daily to their local jobs in shops or restaurants in town. 

This 4-plex and duplex community is in an absolutely gorgeous setting. There have 

been many instances of people mistaking this development as condos and inquiring 

about the price of purchasing one. Of course, we turn down all offers. 
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- Then there is Twelfth Avenue Terrace, 118 units for seniors located in downtown 

Portland. It is not just a place to call home, it is the embodiment of community and 

these formerly homeless seniors are thriving. 

- The Bill Healy Family Center, our national award recipient in the Pacific Northwest, 

located in the central Oregon community of Bend. Wells Fargo & Company is also 

the construction lender on this one. Half of the units were set aside for formerly 

homeless families, all of whom were employed, living in their cars, vans, and shelters 

or with friends. It is a beauty and this project enjoyed overwhelming financial 

support from the local corporate community. Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top and others 

sponsor ski lift days and the “Jazz at Broken Top” as an annual fundraiser to help pay 

for on-site childcare and other services for families. 

- In Eugene, located in the Mid Willamette Valley, are two affordable housing 

communities, Walnut Park and Willakenzie Townhomes. My Chairman loves to tell 

how he drove past Willakenzie Townhomes the morning of the opening celebration, 

because he could not believe this lovely gated development could be affordable 

housing. In this development, over 57 families are being served. 

- McCoy Village is located in Portland’s inner city and houses 55 individuals and 

families. This site had been vacant for more than 29 years, a true blight on the 

community. The site’s condition was unspeakable. Now this project can honestly be 

deemed the jewel on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. 

The seven examples I have highlighted speak to the results that Wells Fargo & 

Company’s capital produced and I could offer nine more examples, one of which is 

located in Washington state. The profound impact on communities large and small in 

Oregon, Washington and soon Idaho, show us how corporate dollars can produce 

immeasurable benefits to rural and urban communities and their residents. Decent, 

attractive, safe and sanitary affordable housing empowers the adult tenants and brings 

pride, not shame, to the faces of children. 

Wells Fargo & Company has done so much for Oregon. They have proven their 

commitment to Oregon and throughout the Northwest in so many ways, even more than 

other banks with a longer history in the state. To cite a few examples: 

* $600,000 for Portland Public Schools when the schools experienced a funding crisis 

due to property tax reforms; 

* $100,000 to Umpqua Community Development Corporation in Roseburg; 

* $416,000 to the United Way of Oregon; 

* $100,000 to the Albina Community Bank, and Wells was the only financial 

institution to make such an investment in this bank which was established to serve a 

population formerly denied access to capital for homeownership or small business 

development; 
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* $100,000 to the High Desert Museum in Bend, also the location of the Bill Healy 

Center; 

* $100,000 to Mercy Housing, located in Seattle; 

* $50,000 to “Start Making A Reader Today” (SMART); 

* $30,000 to Oregon Public Broadcasting; 

* $15,000 for the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement; 

* $15,000 for Farmworker Housing Development Corp. in Woodbum; 

* $15,000 to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland; 

* $12,500 to the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla for their interpretive center; 

* $5000 to the Boys and Girls Club in Medford for a summer camp for disadvantaged 

children. 

For the record, it should be noted that I am not a bleeding heart liberal. In fact, some in 

my industry have referred to me as fiscally conservative -- all business and too corporate 

and insensitive. In some ways I concur with their sentiments, but would add that I have 

the best possible job. I can think of very few opportunities where I can utilize my finance 

skills and have the privilege of produce housing which we can all be proud. Quality of 

life and livable communities is the mantra the public hears. My staff, the Board and I are 

in the trenches working toward those goals. 

I can say unequivocally that, OCAH could not have done its works without Wells Fargo 

& Company. Our expectation for the future, if the merger is approved, is that our 

partnership with the new bank will expand. 

On OCAH’s drawing board are projects that are mixed-income and mixed-use 

multifamily rental housing and single family housing for first-time homebuyers of 

modest means. These kinds of demonstration projects are not possible without 

committed corporate partners such as Wells Fargo & Company. 

On behalf of my Board and staff we are bullish on the proposed merger between Norwest 

Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company. I regret that my talk did not include specifics 

about Norwest Corporation, but I will tell you that they have the first mortgage on our 

home. 

In all sincerity I have heard about the good works Norwest Corporation has done from 

people in the field. And I am confident that the new entity that emerges from this merger 

will have a greater commitment to the people of Oregon and the Northwest. 

With that I thank you for your indulgence and say it was my pleasure to come before this 

esteemed body. 

Any questions.. 
Public Testimony 

Regarding the proposed merger between Norwest Corporation and 

Wells Fargo % Company 

Minnesota Housing Partnership 

9/l 7198 

The Minnesota Housing Partnership is a nonprofit, membershipbased organization whose 

mission is to address the need for affordable housing existing throughout Minnesota. One of our 

major functions is to support the nonprofit housing development industry, particularly the work 

of nonprofit housing developers in rural parts of the state. It is on behalfof our member 

nonprofit housing groups that we address the topic of the proposed merger between Norwest 

Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company. 

Before expressing our concerns related to the merger, we must make note of the value of 

Norwest Corporation to Minnesota nonprofits working in the field of affordable housing. 

Norwest has been a generous and consistent supporter of nonprofit developers and housing 

agencies in many Minnesota communities. For example: 

l Norwest has committed five years of funding at an interest rate of one percent to the 

27 Minnesota-based al3iliates of Habitat for Humanity. 

l Norwest was an initial sponsor and has been a constant supporter of the Home 

Ownership Center, the organization funding and assisting nonproht housing 

counseling programs in the Twin Cities. 

l Norwest has been a major contributor to the Twin Cities and Duluth programs of the 

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). LISC provides technical and tinancial 

support to Community Development Corporations operating in these cities. And 
through LISC’s afliliate the National Equity Fund, Norwest has invested $8 million 

in nonprofit sponsored low-income housing tax credit projects. 

l Norwest was one of the foundii members and is a continuing supporter of the 

Greater h4inneapolis Housing Corporation, a nonprofit innovator of home owner 

assistance programs. 

l And, Norwest has been a major contributor to nonprofit housing agencies in smaller 

communities, such as in Rochester, where it was the first significant funder of 

Community Housing Partnership, a development agency serving two southeastern 

Minnesota counties. 

In addition to the direct financial support provided nonprofit housing agencies, Norwest 

indiitly supports the work of these agencies in two important ways. Fit, Norwest has been a 

major supplier of capital to the state housing finance agency whose programs are utilized by 

nonprofits across the state. Second and most importantly, Norwest through its many branches 

in Minnesota, particularly in smaller towns, provides a source of community kadership. 

Frequently, Norwest branch managers and loan officers contribute their t%ancial expertise and 

advocate on behalf of community development projects, and thereby enable nonprofit agencies 

to make h4innesota communities more viable. 

Indeed, Norwest has been a valuable partner with the nonprofit community development 

industry in Minnesota. However, it is because Norwest bas been so significant to this industry in 

Minnesota that we ask for concrete assurance that the merged corporation, once headquartered 

in California, will not forget its reinvestment obligations in this state. We agree with Minnesota’s 

U.S. Representative Bruce Vent0 that there is a risk that the bi-coastal concentrations of 

&an&l services may well lead to diminished community involvement and investment in the 

nation’s heartland. 

In a September 10 letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Stanley Stroup, the 

Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Not-west Corporation, addressed many of our 

concerns. h4r. Stroup wrote that, post-merger, the strong ties to Minnesota will remain branch 
locations will not be changed, and the bank will remain a member of the Des Moines Federal 

Home Loan Bank. 

It is vital to Minnesota that the merged institution follow through on Mr. Stroup’s assurances. In 

addition to what Mr. Stroup wrote, however, we believe that it is equally important that as part 

of this merger Wells/Norwest make a community investment pledge to Minnesota and other 

states in its service region similar to the multi-$billion commitment to California. WellsNorwest 

should make parallel pledges to these states proportionate to the one made in California, based 

on relative amounts of deposits obtained by the bank horn the respective states. 

In conclusion, we appreciate what has been done and what has been promised by Norwest 

Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company; but we also believe that the risks to our state are 

high. Minnesota is losing one of its most important corporate headquarters. In addition to the 

general commitments made by these banks to Minnesota, Norwestlwells should identity a dollar 

amount that they can commit that will enable Minnesota and like-states to meet their needs for 

community reinvestment. 

Thank you for considering our comments. 
“Bridging the Gap: 

The Marriage of High-Tech and High-Touch Banking” 

Prepared Remarks Before the 

Public Meeting Regarding the Prouosed Merzer 

Of Norwest and Wells Fargo 

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis 

Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Presented Thursday, September 16, 1998 

By: 

John Bryant 

Founder, Chairman 

Chief Executive Officer 

Operation HOPE, Inc. 

Operation HOPE Banking Centers 

Goodwill Ambassador to the United States of America 

Partners for Development Initiative 

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 

800 West Sixth Street, Suite 1200 

Los Angeles, California 90017 

213-891-2900 -Office 

2 13-489-75 11 - Facsimile 

www.oncrationho~e.org 

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“Brideing the Gao: 

The Marriage of High-Tech and High-Touch Banking” 

First and foremost, thank you all for inviting me here to provide testimony before you 

today at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, on the occasion of the proposed 

merger by and between Norwest Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company, holders of 

national bank and, in some cases, state banking licenses, with respect to the proposed 

mergers’ impact on the Community Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as CRA. 

Allow me to begin my prepared remarks by reminding us all that CRA is not a 

government mandated corporate give away program, or that “minority thing” a company 

does, nor the “loss-leader” activity a financial institution engages in - in order to simply 

continue to conduct its normal or traditional business practices. As the Hon. Ellen 

Seidman, Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Hon. Eugene A. Ludwig, ViceChairman of Bankers Trust and our former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, as well as 

senior representatives of the Federal Reserve Bank system and the FDIC have noted, 

CRA simply means “new markets. ” 

Former U.S. Comptroller Ludwig often referred to “the democratization of credit” in 

America as it relates to the historic evolution of credit availability, and access to credit in 

this country. In fact, in the year 1901, most middle-aged, middle income Caucasians - 

arguably the standard that modem day credit criteria has been fashioned around - could 

not themselves obtain credit; precisely because the only credit available in 1901 was a 

commercial credit. Continuing along this line of thought, one of the safest and most 

acceptable forms of credit collateral during this time was in fact inventory - one of the 

least perceived safe, or preferred forms of collateral, today. The point here is that CRA is 

not about some new form of social subsidy, but a serious new, substantial and permanent 

evolution in the democratization of credit process. Low to moderate income communities 

are growing segments of our larger national economy and community, and as such, 

should represent a substantial component of any bank’s future business strategy. 
Turn my attention to this new merger proposal, let me say that the company I know best 

here is Wells Fargo & Company, commonly referred to as Wells Fargo. It is of course no 

secret that Wells Fargo has moved aggressively away from the traditional branch network 

system that most of us grew up on, and for the most part are use to; and they have 

likewise moved towards a technology and information systems based approach to 

banking. It is also fairly common knowledge within the bank that I have on occasion 

“spared” with Wells Fargo officials, concerning the impact of this strategy on urban, 

inner-city and under-served communities. This said, oddly enough, from a business 

perspective, I happen to believe that the bank’s overall strategy is a smart one. Branch 

banking, as we know it, is a memory of the past: .but our communities, are not. 

Wells Fargo’s general success with this new approach to banking over the past few years 

is precisely why Wall Street investors love their stock. The downside to this general 

strategy unfortunately, is that relationship based communities were less than thrilled. 

Wall Street is a “left brain” thinker, and communities tend to be more contextual in their 

orientation - or what I call “right brain” thinkers. In short, communities were saying, 

“. .we want high-touch too, Wells Fargo.” 

To the bank’s credit, in time they began to realize that there was a true win/win business 

value that existed in retaining both a high-tech and a high-tech focus at the institution. 

Our recent $1.4 million partnership between Operation HOPE, Inc. and Wells Fargo, to 

build and operate our third Operation HOPE Banking Center, located in the low-income 

Watts/Willowbrook community of Greater Los Angeles, is in our opinion but one of the 

many examples of how the bank has successfully moved of late to “bridge this gap.” This 

new Operation HOPE Banking Center, like the two currently operating in Black and 

Latin0 under-served communities of Los Angeles, will focus on economic education. 

borrower readiness, and credit availabilitv; in that order. Our $32 million in performing 

loans and investment commitments, and over 20,000 adults and youth educated (for free) 

in the area of economic education and economic literacy, suggest that this is a strategy 

that works. 

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We are pleased that Wells Fargo was able to see the bigger picture, and then to adapt 

their business model to include a “make sense,” outside viewpoint and perspective. 

I also would like to note, for the record, that we do business with people, and not 

companies. And without a doubt, I know that one of the reasons that the bank decided to 

ultimately move on our proposal, and other good ones like it, was the organizational 

focus and leadership provided by the Wells Fargo Community Development Group, and 

the Wells Fargo Foundation. But saying this means nothing, without talking about a 

certain Ms. Karen Wegmann, or Tim Hanlon, who even serves on our Board of Directors 

at Operation HOPE, Inc., or Brenda Ross-Dulan and other good individuals there like 

Jonathan Weedman, that are all in the business of making things happen. Sure, we 

disagree on occasion, but we return each other’s calls also. Our communities know these 

people, and more importantly, they know and understand our communities. Its called 

mutual respect. 

And this, my final point, is I believe, a critical one. In principal the Norwest/Wells Fargo 

marriage should be a good and successful one. One that addresses the needs of served and 

under-served communities alike. After all, Norwest is best known for its successful 

“high touch,” community banking approach to doing business, and Wells Fargo, as I have 

already noted, is an industry leader in information technology and electronic banking. 

High-tech, and high-touch should be possible. But the serious concern I have, once 

again, is strategy, approach, priorities and people. 

With great respect, generalized strategies and approaches used successfully in the past by 

Norwest, possibly in the mid-west and other regions of this country, simply will not fly in 

California; which I might remind everyone is the largest banking market in the 

continental United States. Just like the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota requires that all 

new buildings in downtown Minneapolis connect to neighboring buildings, by way of a 

secondary enclosed walkway network called the Skyway, community development 

organizations in California and other cutting edge regions, have a different relationship 

with their banking partners. 

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As an example, in Greater Los Angeles alone you have a John Mack and the Los Angeles 

Urban League, with an annual operating budget of $18 million, or a Dr. Cecil “Chip” 

Murray and his 17,000 member First A.M.E. Church, with its 176 full-time employees, 

seven operating subsidiaries, and property ownership one block or more in each direction, 

leading from the church. Or take David Lizarraga of TELACU, a Latin0 non-profitiforprofit corporation with $200 million in annual revenues, or Bishop Charles E. Blake and 

his 18,000 member West Angeles Church of God in Christ, who is building a new $50 

million cathedral in South Central Los Angeles, financed in part by Wells Fargo, which 

will in turn help to create yet another $100 million in local spin-off economic activity in 

and around the (inner-city) Crenshaw Corridor area. Or take, Operation HOPE, Inc., a 

growing six year-old non-profit organization with more than three quarters of a million 

dollars on deposit at any one time in local financial institutions. And these community 

development institutions are but a handful of those that makeup the Southern California 

landscape. I guarantee you they will not respond well if they are told that they no longer 

have access to a local, centralized decision making body, such as the Corporate 

Community Development Group and/or the Foundation, but must now talk to some local 

branch manager or community lending officer they don’t know, and who at most, has 

limited organizational access and line authority. 

In short, in California, as in other progressive regions of the country where this merger 

will have direct impact, you are dealing with sophisticated and visible community 

development institutions, and in most cases sophisticated leaders that run them. 

Individuals and institutions that believe passionately in the democratization of credit 

model. They believe also that CRA means new markets, and desire to work with a strong 

and credible banking partner that respects the work that thev do in these emerging 

markets. An institution that views their organizational mission, and their mandate for 

community change, as significant, important and meaningful. In short, “they get it,” and 

they are hoping that you do too. 
And so, I stand before you today prepared to support the proposed merger between 

Norwest and Wells Fargo, with the proviso that the institution we ultimately end up with 

is an enhancement of the high-tech, high-touch model that Wells Fargo was beginning to 

build, and not simply yet another mega, one-size fits all banking conglomerate, 

insensitive to the needs of the served and under-served markets they have assumed 

responsibility to serve. Because, if the reality is the latter and not the former, as we would 

say where my mother and my father grew up, “that dog, .don ‘t hunt. ” 

In closing, I suggest that the merged entity proceed with a combination of sensitively and 

common sense, monitor and review its outcomes regularly, and stand prepared to 

change and refine its business strategy and operating plan, if necessary. 

Thank you. 

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John Bryant 

Biography and Credentials 

John Bryant, appointed August 25, 1998, by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 

(UNCTAD) as the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Partners for Development Initiative 

to the United States of America, is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of 

Operation HOPE, Inc., America’s first non-profit investment banking organization. Totally committed to the 

social and economic revitalization of urban, inner-city and under-served communities, Operation HOPE, 

Inc. also serves as a growing national voice for minority and urban economic empowerment. Mr. Bryant is 

also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the growing network of Operation HOPE Banking Centers, 

which are for-profit subsidiaries of Operation HOPE, Inc., and an innovative new model for banking undersewed communities. 

On May 4, 1998, John Bryant became the first African-American in history to be knighted by the House 

of Lippe and Germany nobility. On this date in Munich, Germany, he was created a Knight 

Commander in the venerable House Order of Signum Fidei, founded in 1269, by H.S.H. Prince Friedrich 

Wilhelm Victor Alexander zor Lippe, head of the House of Lippe in Germany. Mr. Bryant was also 

selected December 5, 1994, by TIME Magazine as “One of America’s 50 Most Promising Leaders of the 

Future.” 

Noteworthy as well, Mr. Bryant was selected, by Black Enterprise Magazine in August, 1995, as “One of 

25 Future Leaders to Watch,” by Swing Magazine in January, 1996, as “One of the 30 Most Powerful 

Twentysometbings in America,” and by the Los Angeles Business Journal on March 18, 1996, as one 

their distinguished “40 Under Forty,” a list of top local business leaders. In May, 1997, Town & Country 

Magazine, the oldest published magazine in the United States, listed Mr. Bryant amongst 25 individuals in 

the country that represented for them “The New Breed of Philanthropic Leaders.” 

With respect to the TIME honor, Mr. Bryant joins a distinguished list of 50 young leaders under the age of 

40, including Bill Gates, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Governor of Indiana Evan Bayh, all of whom were 

chosen, in the words of TIME Magazine, “for their significant social contributions, visionmy 

entrepreneurial spirit andpotential asfuture nntiomd leaders. ” Former designees include Barbara Walters, 

U.S. Senators Sam Nunn and Ted Kennedy, and United States President Bill Clinton. 

Mr. Bryant also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Bryant Group of Companies, Inc., a 

privately held business involved in investment banking and several business partnerships. Mr. Bryant 

serves on several corporate boards, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors and a member 

of the Audit Committee for Southern Pacific Bank, an FDIC insured financial institution with $1.8 billion 

in assets, and a former member of the Board of Directors for 3-Day Blinds, Inc., a major retailer and 

employer in the western United States. Mr. Bryant is an instructor for small business and entrepreneurship 

at UCLA Extension, Department of Business &Management. 

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Born February 6, 1966, and having established a solid track record of accomplishment, starting his first 

business at age 10, Mr. Bryant is today one of America’s most celebrated young entrepreneurs. Mr. Bryant 

has received numerous awards and honors, including being cited bv United States Presidents Ronald Reagan 

and Georee Bush for his outstanding business and community work, recognized twice as one of America’s 

Too 100 Younrr Entreureneurs; named one of California’s Top 100 Business Leaders by California Business 

Magazine; and the recipient of the Retinald F. Lewis Entremeneurshio Award from the Howard University 

School of Business, the Multi-Cultural Bride Builder Award from the Korean American Coalition, and the 

Life Enrichment Award from the Charles R. Drew Universiw Mr. Bryant has also had the honor of serving 

as a United States delegate to Japan, China and Korea, on business and cultural exchanges. In 1994, Mr. 

Bryant was invited to participate in the 19th Japanese External Trade Organization, Export to Japan 

Program, as a guest of the Japanese Government. And in June of 1995, United States President Bill Clinton 

invited Mr. Bryant to be a panel uarticiuant in the white House Pacific Rim Economic Conference, held in 

Portland, Oregon. In 1997, Mr. Bryant was invited to participate as a deleeate and panel participant in the 

lV African-African American Summit, focused on economics, health and education, and founded by Dr. 

Leon H. Sullivan, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe. 

Viewing community service as important in his life, Mr. Bryant serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board for 

the California African-American Museum Foundation, the Board of Directors for Teach for America, a 

national non-profit organization, RLA (Rebuild LA), the Board of Trustees for First A.M.E. Church, Los 

Angeles, and the Executive Advisory Board for the FAME Renaissance Program (a micro-loan lender 

funded by the Disney Corporation. 

Having gained national recognition as a leader, an expert on urban renewal, and someone to be counted on 

to deliver results, Mr. Bryant is a sought after guest speaker for major corporations and professional 

organizations, and serves as a resource to national and international media outlets, such as CNN. Mr. 

Bryant has been featured in several prestigious publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street 

Journal and the Los Angeles Times. In May 1997, Mr. Bryant was feahxed in the book “Face Forward: 

Young African-American Male Images, In A Crirical Age, ” and was one of three individuals from the book 

selected to be highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, July 10, 1997. 

In the words of U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, Hon. Eugene A. Ludwig, who is the nation’s top banking 

regulator, ‘John Bryant is the People’s entrepreneur.. .” 

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