New Press Release!

PHILADELPHIA - Thomasenia G. Cotton, who worked for 30 years with the late Rev. Dr. Leon Sullivan, has been named President and COO of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OICA).

Mrs. Cotton began her career at the nation’s first training and jobs program for the urban poor in 1971, when Rev. Sullivan recognized the need for the Philadelphia based program to become a national program.

“I committed to one year, and I've been here ever since,” said Cotton “I worked with and watched Rev. Sullivan predict the social conditions facing the urban poor; create the vision for OIC, and craft the mission of not only OIC but also the other Sullivan entities. I feel privileged to keep OIC on course and in line with his vision.”

“Thomasenia Cotton has tremendous leadership and administrative skills. She has excelled all the way around,” said Connie Wilson-Collins, OICA board chair. “No one around knows OIC as well as she. She knows Dr. Sullivan's dreams and visions for OIC. The fact that she is the first woman to head OICA is a plus, in that now she is a role model. We are very fortunate to have her.”

An expert in administration, human resource management and management information systems, Cotton has served in several positions at OICA, most recently as interim president. She has been director of the Office of Field Service Coordination and manager of OICA’s national conventions. She planned and provided delegate services for the Leon H. Sullivan Summits (formerly African African-American Summits) convened by Dr. Sullivan in Africa, starting with the first summit in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). She worked to establish the Teachers for Africa Program and the Peoples' Investment Fund for Africa, initiatives of Dr Sullivan's International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH), based in Phoenix.

“There is a special corner of OICA professionals who understand and reflect the vision for the organization as projected by its founder. Thomasenia Cotton is in that corner. She has lived that vision for all her years at OICA and through the work she has done on behalf of other Sullivan entities,” said Ludwick Hayden of Chevron/Texaco Companies and an OICA board member, “I am confident in her leadership, and I know that she will take OICA to new heights. She will singularly make a difference.”

As President and Chief Operations Officer, Mrs. Cotton oversees a $3.8 million budget and directs a staff of 32 that monitors and assesses the work of 60 OIC programs in 27 states and the District of Columbia. OICA sets standards for the OIC affiliates and provides management support, including financial audits, Web site design and board membership training and helps find funding opportunities.

President Cotton said, “OIC is on course to meet the employment and training demands of the new century. New programs include helping OICs join faith- based groups in implementing President Bush's faith-based initiative and the No Child Left Behind programs for supporting children, and providing health and wellness campaigns on HIV/AIDS awareness.”

President Cotton will continue to work with the Leon H. Sullivan Summit, this year scheduled for Nigeria, and with the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, established in 2001 and based in Washington, DC, to promote the principles of self-help and social responsibility around the world.

A resident of Germantown, President Cotton earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from North Carolina Central University and her master's degree in human resource management from the University of Utah. Before coming to OICA she worked as a civilian employee for the U.S. Army in Seoul, Korea, and as program director under the legendary Anne Garrott for the Southwest Belmont YWCA.

Founded in 1964, OICA is a national nonprofit network of employment and training programs bound by a commitment to help the disadvantaged reach their potential. Since its inception OIC has served over 2 million people of all races from rural Appalachia to Portland, Oregon.