Black Business Execs Raise Funds For Free ‘Selma’ Screening For Students Nationwide

Last week, it was reported that 7th, 8th and 9th grade students in New York City will be able to see Selma for free thanks to the generous efforts of 27 prominent business leaders. Now, after receiving an overwhelming response from the screenings in New York City, Paramount Pictures Corp. is partnering with these same business leaders to expand this offer to students in major cities across the U.S.

“The response to our program in New York is better than we could have anticipated and we are truly moved by the generosity and outpouring of support,” said Charles Phillips, chief executive of the New York software company Infor. “The story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s heroic efforts in Alabama during the civil rights movement is an important chapter in our country’s history — and one that still resonates today.”

According to Phillips, a total of 90,000 students will now be able to see the historical film for free, including the original 27,000 New York City students. New areas participating in the free screening include Boston, Nashville, Tenn., New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sarasota, Fla., and Westchester County, NY., with more cities expected to be added throughout the week.

Below are the names of the 27 business leaders who made the free screenings possible:

– Amsale Aberra and Neil Brown, owners of the Amsale Group

– Gerald Adolph, senior partner at Booz & Co., and Gwen Adolph

– Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox, and Lloyd Bean

– Valentino D. Carlotti, partner at Goldman Sachs Group

– Ken Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express, and Kathryn Chenault

– Tony Coles, former CEO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and Robyn Coles

– Edith Cooper, executive vice president and global head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs group, and Roger Taylor

– Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, and Annette L. Nazareth

– Bruce Gordon, chairman of ADT and former CEO of the NAACP, and Tawanna Tibbs

– Charles J. Hamilton, Jr., senior counsel at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP, and Pamela G. Carlton, president of Springboard

– Vernon Jordan, senior managing director at Lazard, and Ann Dibble Jordan

– Debra Lee, chairman and CEO of BET Networks

– Bill Lewis, co-chairman of investment banking at Lazard, and Carol Sutton Lewis

– Ed Lewis, founder of Essence magazine, and Carolyn Lewis

– Tracy Maitland, CEO and founder of Advent Capital Management, and Kimberly Hatchett

– Ray McGuire, head of global banking at Citigroup, and Crystal McCrary

– Scott Mill, executive vice president of human resources and administration at Viacom, and Iva Mills

– Adebayo Ogunlesi, CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners and lead director at Goldman Sachs, and Dr. Amelia Quist-Ogunlesi

– Richard Parsons, senior adviser at Providence Equity Partners, and Laura Parsons

– Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor and director at Viacom, and Karen Phillips

– Jonelle Procope, president of the Apollo Theater, and Fred Terrell, vice chairman of investment banking at Credit Suisse

– Tamara Harris Robinson, CEO of Haramat Advisory Services

– Marva Smalls, executive vice president of global inclusion strategy at Viacom

– Frank Thomas, the Study Group

– John Utendahl, vice chairman of Deustche Bank Americas

– Reginald Van Lee, executive vice president and Booz Allen

– Ted Wells, partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Nina Wells

To find out if your city has been added to the list of free screenings visit selmastudenttickets.com.