Capital One is again showing its remarkable support for Delaware State University. The upcoming Jan. 24 DSU Scholarship Ball – HBCU Extravaganza – will bear the name of Capital One as its top Corporate Sponsor of the event, which will take place at the Chase Center in Wilmington.Capital One’s sponsorship of the Scholarship Ball is a continuation of the generous support it has provided DSU in recent years. In 2021, Capital One donated its six-floor, 35,000-square-foot Wilmington building to DSU, which has been renamed DSU Riverfront. In addition, since 2020, Capital One has granted almost $1.3 million to DSU.Other corporate sponsors supporting the upcoming Scholarship Ball include Agilent Technologies, Barclays, ChristianaCare, Delmarva Power, Corteva, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Chesapeake Utilities Corp., Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Nemours, M&T Bank, Incyte, Pepsi Bottling Ventures, CSC Global, and Breakthru Beverages.The Scholarship Ball will showcase Grammy Award-winning artist Avery Sunshine as its featured performer, and the event emcee will be Jamila Mustafa, who, in addition to being a DSU alumna, is an award-winning journalist, host, and actress.The DSU Scholarship Ball is the first signature university event for Henry W. Taylor, who has hit the ground running with intentional purposefulness as DSU’s new Vice President for Institutional Advancement and President of the DSU Foundation.“The opportunity to highlight the profound importance of philanthropic support for scholarships that enable our students to realize their dream of higher education is what is celebrated,” Mr. Taylor said. “Capitol One, our title sponsor and Corporate Partner Awardee, will be honored for their generosity along with many other individual, organizational, and group scholarship donors, as we will experience a night of DSU’s best and brightest.”Mr. Taylor – who arrived at the University in September – brings almost 30 years of professional experience in the higher education and non-profit sectors. His diverse background includes fundraising, board development, campaign planning and execution, alumni/constituent relations, communications/marketing, non-profit management, diversity, and community partnerships. As an advancement professional, Mr. Taylor has successfully solicited more than $75M personally and led teams that have secured over $250M in a career journey that has included tenures with Princeton University, Stanford University, KIPP Foundation, Level Playing Field Institute, Clark Atlanta University, Agnes Scott College, and Golden Gate University. His fundraising success is based on a relationship-focused approach that highly emphasizes the difference between charity and true philanthropy.Before beginning his new professional chapter at DSU, Mr. Taylor served as the CEO of The Obria Group, a Christian healthcare organization with 17 clinics in five states. His most recent tenure in higher education was as the Vice President for University Advancement at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, Calif., where more than $23M was raised.Mr. Taylor said that he is excited to work with the members of the institutional advancement team, as well as with other University colleagues, including many student and alumni volunteers, to produce an outstanding Scholarship Ball.“Leading Del State’s advancement efforts is an opportunity I am honored to accept and bring my almost three decades of professional experience to help us elevate the philanthropic investments that will ensure the next 134 years of life-transforming education that Delaware State University has provided since 1891,” Mr. Taylor said.Mr. Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in government and religion from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s degree in leadership from St. Mary’s College of California.
