The National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) has announced its new board of directors, comprised of African-American business professionals with experience ranging from public service to technology. “We are proud of our board of directors, and the skills and dedication that each individual brings to their partnership with the National Black MBA Association,” said Barbara Thomas, president and CEO of NBMBAA. “Their support will help ensure that we provide even more access and opportunity for blacks, and that our mission and goals are relevant to every facet of the black professional experience.” William Wells currently serves as chairman of the board. Other board members include: Thomas Flewellyn, Dr. D.T. Ogilvie, Dimitrius Martel Hutcherson, Angela Eason, Alvin Brown, Thomas Dortch, Audrey Dillard Hines, and Stephen Lewis. Founded in 1970 the NBMBAA is dedicated to creating partnerships that result in increased intellectual and economic wealth in the black community.

Maria Elena Lagomasino, CEO of Asset Management Advisors LLC, has been honored as 2007 Hispanic Business Woman of the Year by Hispanic Business magazine. Lagomasino worked at Citigroup and JP Morgan before becoming CEO at Asset Management Advisors, a company owned by Sun Trust Banks. Hispanic Business will also honor other Elite Women at the Fifth Annual Hispanic Business Woman of the Year Awards Gala and Daytime Symposium. The Woman of the Year finalists include Maria Azua, vice president of technology and innovation at IBM; Grace Lieblein, a chief vehicle engineer for General Motors; Maria Martinez, vice president for Microsoft Worldwide Services; and Carmela Castellano-Garcia, CEO of California Primary Care Association.

Contraception is not a health-treatment covered by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, according to a split decision of the Federal Appeals Court for the Eighth Circuit. According to DiversityInc, the court denied the claims of 1,500 women, holding “that contraception is not 'related to' pregnancy for Pregnancy Discrimination Act purposes because, like infertility treatments, contraception is a treatment that is only indicated prior to pregnancy.” The dissenting opinion countered that prescription “contraception is necessarily gender-related because it prevents pregnancy only in women.”

In another U.S. court decision, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Title VII is “not a code of civility.” DiversityInc said the court ruled that the bulk of the plaintiff’s complaints were about non-sexual behavior that she found offensive, or sexually oriented behavior that she did not witness. "The fact that one's coworkers do or say things that offend one, however deeply, does not amount to harassment if one is not within the target area of the offending conduct,” according to the ruling.

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