The new guard! 25 future leaders to watch.

WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT HAS a name-25 names, in fact.

At a time when the road to progress in the black community often feels more like a blind alley, BLACK ENTERPRISE set out to find 25 leaders in the making, young people who, at age 35 or under, have already made a significant impact on their fields--and who clearly appear destined to do more.

What we found was heartening indeed: an abundance of rising black stars, poised for national acclaim, if they haven't won it already. Narrowing the field wasn't easy but, in the end, the 25 young people featured on the following pages were chosen because they personify leadership. They are all bright, driven, accomplished, independent and committed--not just to their own success, but to the success of the larger black community.

As scientists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, politicians and activists, they know exactly who they are, and possess the skills, desire and determination to blaze new trails for themselves--that will ultimately benefit us all. They're developing hit programming for television; driving' economic development from Central Brooklyn to South Central L.A.; shaping trends in fashion and entertainment; and wielding influence as corporate and political leaders.

Several are CEOs of black-owned businesses, one has both management and ownership positions with a major sports franchise and another is on the short list of African American executives who are good bets to become the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation. These young African Americans--and many of their peers--will pave the way, Face the challenges and break the barriers for the next 25 years of BLACK ENTERPRISE and black business achievement.

We've devoted plenty of space, during the year leading up to this silver anniversary issue, to saluting the past. Now meet those who will help shape the future. We proudly introduce the newest generation of the black business and professional class: The New Guard.

KATREICE LINDLEY-BANKS

Deputy Director, National Coalition on Black Voter Participation Inc.

Given African American voter apathy today, it may seem like ancient history but it wasn't that long ago that black people risked life and limb by simply exercising their right to vote. Katreice Lindley-Banks, 27, and the five-person team at the Washington-based National Coalition Black Voter Participation (NCBVP) haven't forgotten.

The 19-year-old, nonprofit, nonpartisan group was created by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and given the daunting charge of jump-starting the urge to vote among 18-to-34-year-olds. There are whispers on Capitol Hill that this is the core group politicians will be trying to seduce in 1996.

Although Lindley-banks' own name may one day be on a ballot, the Atlanta native insists that her current focus is on getting others into elective office. "I just want [black] voters to know the facts; then my job is done."

JOHN BRYANT 

Founder, CEO, Operation HOPE

Moved to tears by the sight of South Central Los Angeles under siege and in flames, John Bryant, CEO of John Bryant Consulting and Management, took $5,000 of his personal savings and set up Operation HOPE, a nonprofit investment banking group dedicated to rebuilding the city.

Since then, the silver-tongued Bryant, 29, has personally escorted white bankers through South Central, convincing them of the financial benefits of extending loans to burnt-out owners and deserving residents. Under the program, $4 million has been loaned so far.

A former investment broker who started his own consulting company in 1990, Bryant teaches courses at UCLA on starting a business. The Compton, Calif., native also serves on several boards and community service groups and travels the country promoting the benefits of inner city development at packed events. But with the SBA and HUD under siege, Bryant will have to hustle to keep HOPE Alive.

KEITH T. CLINKSCALES

President and CEO, VIBE

Ventures beckon you to head a new, hip, multimillion-dollar magazine start-up , you take the job, says Keith Clinkscales, the-31--year-old president and CEO of Vibe magazine.

Back in 1988, Clinkscales was cutting his publishing teeth on Urban Profile, an ambitious magazine that tapped a hot market: 18-to-34-year-old urban music lovers.

No sooner had the Trumbull, Conn., native graduated from Florida A&M University in 1986 than he matched $1,500 of his own savings with $1,500 raised from friends, and launched Urban Profile. Although high costs caused it to fold in 1992, Time executives were soon coveting Clinkscales' publishing expertise and Harvard M.B.A. After just 18 issues, Vibe's circulation tripled to 275,000, rivaling the competition. "My goal," he says, "is to take a culture that has been sometimes ridiculed, and sometimes `dissed,' and package it into a marketable product in all its glory."

CLEO FIELDS 

Democratic Congressman, Louisiana

It's clear that the Republicans are trying to kick Congressman Cleo Fields' butt. But the young Democrat known as "Wonderboy" won't back down. In fact, the nation's youngest congressman has already put in his bid for the governorship of Louisiana.

Fields represents Louisiana's 4th District, which encompasses the mostly black, working-class territories of Baton Rouge (Fields' hometown), Shreveport and Monroe. In 1988, at age 24, Fields was elected the youngest state senator. In 1992, he entered the 103rd Congress by a slim, 200-vote margin. It is there that Fields launched the battle to improve his constituents' economic condition, focusing largely on molding a solid youth workforce. He's been combating the Republican Party every step of the way.

Fields expects to leave D.C. for home in '96. He's hoping that home will be the governor's mansion.

ALPHONSE "BUDDY" FLETCHER

President, Fletcher Asset Management

Indirectly, Fletcher Asset Management started with a really bad decision bv Kidder, Peabody. In 1992 the Wall Street firm stiffed a black trader on his iiiiilion dollar bonus. Then 26, the trader sued, and won, to the tune of $1.3 million. With that, Alphonse "Buddy" Fletcher Jr. set up his own shop, trading securities for a Fortune 50 institutional investor and for his own account. An SEC filing shows Fletcher Capital Markets had $46 million in assets and $3.6 i-nillion in equity at the end of 1993. On a good day his firm is responsible for as iniich as 5% of all trades executed at the New York Stock Exchange.

Now 29, Fletcher, who is driven around town in a gleaming black Bentley, says, "I don't often stop and think to myself that I've been so successful. I guess I'm too busy being concerned about doing things right, going forward, rather than dwelling on the past."

JAMES E. FRANCIS

President and CEO, Paradigm Asset Management

At a time when black asset management houses are finally coming into their own--making multimillion dollar deals and gaining the attention and respect of the international financial world--one small start-up has snagged a hot young entrepreneurial spirit just in time for the ride of the decade.

At 33, James Francis bought out New York-based Paradigm Asset Management (formerly Beal Investment Co.) from M.R. Beal & Co. Currently, assets under management total $400 million. Francis, a Morehouse College grad and father of two, says he expects to add more investment products through acquisitions and joint ventures with other firms. He is already eyeing the day when his now five-year-old firm will offer a full family of mutual funds.

Francis, who halls from Dayton, Ohio, attributes his success and that of Paradigm to three things that have always pushed him ahead of the pack: calculated risk-taking, leverage and vision.

KELLY GOODE 

Vice President, Series Development, CBS Entertainment Productions

The Rev. Jesse Jackson's got her back, and so do thousands of tv viewers burying CBS in faxes urging the broadcasting company to save Kelly Goode's Under One Roof, a critically acclaimed black family drama starring James Earl Jones.

Goode, whose team developed the series, is one of the few black women with any power a the major networks. In her eighth yeat at CBS, the 33-year-old Harvard alumna is building a strong reputation for crafting shows with critic and viewer support, such as Dave's World and Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. Unfortunately, the all-powerful Neilsen Ratings don't always jibe with the glowing feedback Goode's shows receive, so she has had to fight to keep some of them alive.

The here-today-gone-tomorrow nature of her business keeps Goode focused on the next potential winner. Among the current hopefuls are Caroline in the City, a sitcom about a cartoonist, which is expected to premiere next season.

MARK WINSTON GRIFFITH and ERROL T. LOUIS

Co-founders, Central Brooklyn Federal Credit Union

Mark Griffith and Errol Louis dream of giving money away. As co-founders of the first community development credit union to receive its charter under the Clinton administration, Griffith, 31, and Louis, 32, are artfully mastering a tricky combination of politics, community activism and just plain good business. With $4 million in assets, the two-year-old S&L has loaned more than $1 million, including $300,000 worth of small business loans, to Brooklyn residents. Central Brooklyn Partnership, the nonprofit affiliate, teaches leadership development and financial literacy skills.

This has been a longtime goal for both Executive Director Griffith, a graduate of Brown University, and Manager and Treasurer Louis, a Harvard grad. Says Griffith, "We're able to bridge so many different things, connect people to resources and to each other in a way that has rarely been done before."

ANDRE HARRELL

President, Uptown Entertainment

Whether it's a record label, television show ir a movie soundtrack, Andre Harrell, 33, keeps striking new veins in the $10 billion music world. In just seven years, Harrell's record label has become a multimillion dollar empire.

The Bronx, N.Y., native is credited with reviving R&B and uplifting hip-hop at a time when hardcore rap reigned supreme. His artists are routinely featured on New York undercover, which he co-produces on the Fox Network, and his stable of talent includes blockbusters such as Jodeci and Mary J. Blige.

Harrell formed his own rap group at age 16. A communications major, he left Lehman College in his senior year to take a job as a radio sales rep. From there he went to then-fledgling Rush Communications for two years as a vice president. In 1992, he executive-produced Strictly Business. Today, Uptown has a seven-year, 50 million music, television and movie deal with MCA and Universal. And Harrell's future seems to have no limit.

JANET HILL

Managing Editor, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Inc.

Janet Hill graduated from Wesleyan College 10 years ago with an attitude. The architecture major and self-proclaimed bookworm kissed off the mechanical drawing world, packed up her Mitsubishi Colt Vista and headed to New York to conquer the publishing industry.

Full of chutzpah, the Detroit native turned down several jobs she deemed too lowly for her talents. But after a taste of Big Apple rents, she took an editorial assistant job at Doubleday, the nation's No. 2 book publisher. A decade of late nights and copy-crammed weekends later, Hill, 32, is one of 40 managing editors at major U.S. publishing houses, a mere handful of whom are black. As such, Hill ensures that 200 titles come out on time and on budget each. To cope, Hill says her alter egos include "taskmaster, diplomat, and therapist."

Unlike most managing editors, Hill has the power to acquire books. She has assisted about 16 black authors in reaching bookstore shelves, and spends her spare time schmoozing at literary societies to lure more black people into publishing, an industry with a scant black presence.

TANYA HEIDELBERG-YOPP

Vice President Business Affais, MTV Networks

Each day at MTV Networks, creative types step into Tanya Heidelberg Yopp's parlor. There, the vice president handles legal and business issues, negotiates agreements for series animation, and licensing for anything having to do with MTV or Nickelodeon.

But hanging with hipsters wasn't always her plan. Heidelberg-Yofpp bounced from an esteemed Wall Street law firm to a top entertainment boutique within four years of graduating from New York University Law School in 1988. Still not satisfied, she hired a headhunter to find her dream job. She found it in 1992 at MTV, the New York-based cable station with a cult following.

The 32-year-old Detroit native works on a children's antiviolence project. Children mimic what they see on TV, says Heidelberg-Yopp. One goal: to convince cartoonists that annihilating the enemy with laser guns isn't the only way to win. Occasionally they opt to do what Heidelberg-Yopp does in business: Talk a problem out.

REGINALD HUDLIN

Co-founder, The Hudlin Brothers

Now that House Party, Boomerang (one of the top grossing black films to date at $120 millions Kids (the first animated black and Cosmic Slop (the HBO sci-fi tucked neatly under Reginald Hudlin's belt, what's next? Why CD ROM and publishing, of course.

"We're interested in creating quality entertainment in all possible formats," says Hudlin, who has worn all possible hats--that of writer, producer and director. He's also an entrepreneur, having started his namesake production company with his older brother Warrington in 1986. Altogether their films have grossed $150 million domestically.

Hudlin, 33, is future-focused, juggling several projects at once. At the moment, he's working on a 20th-century Fox comedy set in the boxing world, The Great White Hype, starring Samuel Jackson and Jeff Goldblum, and developing more scripts for Cosmic Stop.

GEORGE JACKSON

They're just getting revved up. The company is spearheading an effort to improve the distribution and visibility of black movies in the international marketplace, Their proposed solution: a black film festival within some of the major festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and Venice done with the support of the Motion Picture Association.

KARL KANI

President, Karl Kani Infinity

The fashion industry is known for repeatedly proving the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest. Well, at just 26, Karl Kani, president of Karl Kani Infinity, could teach Darwin a lesson.

In 1991, Kani designed apparel and footwear for Threads 4 Life, the producers of the famous Cross Colours hip-hop clothing line. Kani's designs helped sales skyrocket from $15 million to $89 million in just one year. But, according to Kani, by 1993 Cross Colours was faltering, having taken on too much, too soon. That's when self-preservation kicked in for the young Brooklynite. Kani jumped ship with a $500,000 lifeboat, which he used to launch Infinity.

He half-expected the fashion industry to reject him, but Kani's diligence and talent won out. This year, Los Angeles-based Infinity reported $43 million in sales and the men and boys sportswear line hangs in 300 U.S. stores.

DEBRA LANGFORD

Vice President, Television, Quincy Jones Entertainment

What are the wages of syndication? Ask Debra Langford, vice president, television at Quincy Jones Entertainment, and she'll say profits and power. Experts estimate Langford's baby, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, starring Bad Boy Will Smith, will rake in about $200 million in syndication revenues after production shuts down next year.

But money isn't everything. Eager to keep the momentum going, and black faces on the small screen, Langford, 32, premiered In the House last spring. The future of the sitcom is as yet uncertain, but Langford insists, "We need to replace black shows with black shows."

Langford speed-reads scripts and negotiates with writers, producers and attorneys for future sitcoms. Not new to molding high-priced syndicated shows, Langford was previously a vice president at entertainment giant Warner Brothers. Next, the Los Angeles native is launching MAD TV for Fox Broadcasting, a comedy based on the lampoon classic MAD magazine.

DEBRA SANDLER

Marketing Director, Retail Channels, Pepsi-Cola North America

Attention all retailers: Don't put a Coke in those Pepsi coolers next to the grocery express lane, or you'll have to answer to Debra Sandler.

As marketing director of retail channels, Sandler, 35, handles marketing and merchandising for Pepsi-Cola's beverages in supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations and vending machines. The job may not sound glamorous, but it's essential: While packaging, taste add pricing count, it's often easy access that wins the sale. In 10 years, Sandler has risen through the marketing ranks of the $9.7 billion company. One of her key jobs was director of ethnic marketing, where she studied consumption and buying patterns of ethnic markets, a powerful group in the soft-drink industry.

The New York University M.B.A. grad is currently dipping into her $100 million marketing equipment budget to launch the Pepsi Island System, a unit that displays Pepsi products in strategically selected grocery aisles. The line position keeps the Trinidad, West Indies native on track for bigger and better things. For now, though, Sandler's strategic vision remains focused on making Pepsi the most accessible choice for a new generation.

RICHARD NANULA

His latest post should prove his most challenging. Disney plans to nearly double the number of its retail stores worldwide (there are 335 in eight countries). Nanula oversees their operations, marketing and expansion. This is one of the few areas in the company that's slated for significant expansion. Nanula, known to be driven and creatively resourceful, is clearly up to the task.

ROBIN SMITH

Vice president, Local Mobilization, One to One Partnership

"Gredd was good" in the '80s. But today, Robin Smith, 31, a former investment banker, greater good at One to One, a six-year-old, nonprofit mentoring organization.

Smith went straight from Harvard Business School in 1988 to Wall Street as a corporate finance associate at Goldman, Sachs & Co. The Boston native was managing debt and equity securities in 1992, when her former boss Geoff Boisi, co-founder of One to One, convinced her to do the unthinkable: switch to the nonprofit world.

Working with programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Smith recruited 50 new companies within a year and 1,000 new mentors. She now manages national operations for 12 cities.

Last spring, she was elected to the board of directors of the Dreyfus Corp. Smith, the sole black person and female on the board, is also its youngest member--by about 20 years.

WILLIAM J. SOLOMON JR.

his class. He went to its subsidiary, BancBoston Capital, as a senior associate, and drafted the group s minority investment strategy. Early this year, he decided to strike out on his own with a small mergers and acquisitions firm. But he soon tabled his plans and joined Levmark, taking with him $6.5 million of equity financing from BancBoston. "Right now," he says, "there's this window of opportunity to do some of the things white guys have been doing for 10 years," he says.

ISIAH THOMAS III

Vice President of Basketball Operations, Toronto Raptors

Most pro-sports figures understand that investing wisely is the key to keeping the wealth they amass. But Isiah Thomas, 34, has taken that financial logic to a level few black athletes, on or off the court, have achieved.

In May, Thomas ended his NBA career as the Detroit Pistons all-time leader in points, assists and steals after leading the team to two NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. Then, in a bold move, the ex-point guard packed up his wife and two children and headed to Canada to oversee his $12.5 million, 10% stake in the Toronto Raptors, Canada's first NBA expansion team.

Along with the stake came the titles vice president and part owner, making Thomas one of a select group of black people in the front offices of the multibillion dollar pro-sports industry.

JAMES F. WALLER

online system to manage calls. Problem solved and impression made. Rep. John Lewis took notice and lured Waller from the CDC. As Lewis' chief of staff, Waller, 31, advises the congressman on economic issues, keeps up with constituency agendas and oversees a staff of 13 in Atlanta and Washington.

Waller's team helped in Atlanta's bid to become an empowerment zone. "Small businesses create the most jobs in the U.S.," says Waller, who recently assisted in creating a small business advisory group dedicated to creating programs that benefit entrepreneurs. "We need to encourage that engine and use all of our resources to keep it well oiled." The group Will work with the Greater Atlanta Small Business Project, an incubator program that has sponsored $1.9 million in loans this year.

DONNA SIMS WILSON

Home Loan Mortgage Corp. She also spends about 16 weeks each year in Dakar, Senegal, overseeing AfricInvest, a six-member team that funds small business ventures in Senegal and Mali. They've invested $1.5 million to date.

Earlier this year, the Yale graduate was elected to the prestigious Public Securities Association board, a Wall Street trade group. Wilson is the first and only woman of three blacks on the 25-person board.

DR. LEROY WORTH JR. and DR. ALICIA E. WHITE

Medical Research Fellows, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 

Children of color tend to steer away from the sciences, but a few extraordinary people are pursuing that road, diligently searching for desperately needed cures and vaccines.

Inside Leroy Worth's molecular genetics lab at the $2/71 million National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the 33-year-old senior staff fellow is closing in on the underlying causes for cancer. In the institute's Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, his researchers are trying to control the mismatching of gene proteins that monitor DNA replication. Worth, a Rockingham, N.C. native, received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Maryland and his post-doctoral training at Duke University Medical Center. In a nearby lab, Alicia White, a 28-year-old post-doctoral fellow who received her Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this year, studies the gradual mutation of healthy cells into cancerous ones.

Worth and White are among only a handful of scientists honing in on cancer