Michael Lee-Chin (pictured above), founder of Canadian mutual fund company AIC Ltd., and attorney Johnnie Cochran have co-founded a sporting and entertainment client agency designed to negotiate performance contracts. The new body will also represent those in the entertainment business. Chin will provide financial and business education and guidance to clients while Cochran will lend his negotiation and legal expertise. It has yet to be established where this new entity will be based or how much capital has been injected into the enterprise. Lee-Chin is one of three black billionaires in North America (see “Buy, Hold & Prosper,” August 2002).
oo Tuskegee University announced that it received a $2 million pledge from Procter & Gamble for its Legacy Campaign. The funds are earmarked for construction of the $11 million, 45,000-square-foot facility to house the university’s College of Business and Information Science. Tuskegee University’s $60 million Legacy Campaign, which had already been kick-started with $16 million in contributions, officially launched on Feb. 26 on the heels of a successful 10-year, $150 million Campaign for Tuskegee that raised some $169 million for capital and educational improvements. The College of Business and Information Science graduates approximately 100 students each year. Department majors include computer science, computer science-information systems option, accounting, business administration, economics, finance, management science, sales and marketing, and hospitality management.
Former New York State Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall was named vice chairman and managing director for HealthPoint L.L.C. in New York City, a financial services firm that focuses exclusively on the orthopedics device sector of the healthcare industry. In this position McCall will act as a liaison to investors in the firm’s initial round of financing for its $200 million private equity fund.