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Mr. Alston received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business
Administration (Management) from Cheyney University in June 1980. He was
enrolled in the Cooperative Education Program at Cheyney and worked as a
Management Analyst for the United States Government Accountability Office
(GAO) while an undergraduate. Following graduation, he continued with the
“Watch Dog” agency for the next 23 years working first in the Philadelphia
and San Francisco Regional Offices and then finally in the Washington, DC
headquarters. Through his career at GAO, he progressed from planning and
performing audits as an auditor/evaluator to managing multiple large-scale
IT audits as an Assistant Director.
Mr. Alston retired early from GAO in
2001 after receiving many awards including the Distinguished Comptroller
General’s award for his ground breaking work on US Customs internal
control weaknesses in duty collections at borders.
Mr. Alston testified before Congress on several occasions on behalf of GAO
and published many reports on improving government operations and
delivering better service to the public.
Mr. Alston was a long-time member of
the Association of Government Accountants and a Certified Government
Financial Manager (CGFM) as well as a member of the Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).
Following early retirement, Mr.
Alston formed a Limited Liability Company known as TechAgility LLC based
in Maryland with offices in Washington, DC. Over the years, the company
grew and worked on various projects and initiatives for major clients
including Fannie Mae, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the City of
Rockford, IL, Verizon Communications, and The National Black Caucus of
State Legislators (NBCSL) among others.
In addition to working with
corporations and government entities, Mr. Alston’s TechAgility management
team was committed to the community it served through volunteer and pro
bono work. Over a five year period, TechAgility often provided free
services for several non-profit organizations including the National
Council of Negro Women (NCNW), The Foundation for African Americans in
Film, The Prince Georges County Family Crisis Center (Maryland), Silver
Spring Community Vision (Maryland), and Community Family Life Services
(Washington, DC) -- all non-profit organizations serving primarily the
African American community.
In November and December 2006,
TechAgility was awarded two patents respectively from The US Patent and
Trade Office for Internet high speed broadband compression technology and
distribution. In June, 2007, Mr. Alston sold his share of the company and
formed a new Internet-based venture ABC CheapTravel.com, a full service
online travel agency based in Maryland.
Before he moved to the West Coast,
Mr. Alston -- a native Philadelphian -- was a long-standing member of Zion
Baptist Church in Philadelphia for over 25 years where the Reverend Leon
H. Sullivan was pastor and where his mother taught Sunday school weekly.
Mr. Alston attributes his success and dedication to the community in large
part on the mentoring of these important figures in his life and the
support and education he received from Cheyney. It was inevitable
therefore that Mr., Alston would return to the Philadelphia area and
Cheyney University in some capacity. Thus, since 2002, he has been a
volunteer Foundation Member traveling three hundred miles roundtrip to
attend meetings and provide whatever assistance he can to help the
University grow and develop for the benefit of our children.
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