The National Black MBA Association Is Where Black Professionals Find Employers, Executive Programs and Each Other

If you have an MBA, or you are working your way toward one, you should check out the National Black MBA Association.

The association came out of a meeting in April 1970, when about 58 Black MBA students gathered at the University of Chicago’s business school with faculty from 29 graduate programs to work out what Black MBAs were up against and whether a national body could help. They decided it could and incorporated in 1972. The problems they named have not changed much: getting hired, getting promoted, and getting into the rooms where those calls are made.

Hiring is the reason most people join. The association’s Annual Conference and Exposition runs September 23 through 25, 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and its Career Expo has drawn more than 300 exhibitors, hundreds of Fortune 1000 corporations interviewing on site, and upwards of 10,000 attendees. People leave that building with offers.

For anyone inside a company trying to move up, Gold Key Access is built for senior managers and directors pursuing an executive-level role. The Fellows Program works the other end of a career, selecting 100 MBA students a year on the recommendation of their business school deans and covering their registration, flights and lodging, and the Graduate Case Competition puts up $50,000 in cash prizes judged by Fortune 500 executives.

Most of the year-round work happens in the chapters, and NBMBAA has 40 of them alongside more than 11,000 active members and over 300 corporate, academic and nonprofit partners. They run programming in most major markets, and Leaders of Tomorrow puts high school students through a nine-month program.

The dues are set so nobody is priced out. Affiliate membership is free, high school students pay $15, undergraduate and graduate students pay $49, and professionals pay $199.

Membership details are at nbmbaa.org/membership.