Lives of Consequence
Horace D. Allen '85
Horace Allen is founder and CEO of TeamPact, a non-profit social enterprise that mentors young African American and Latino men, achieving a 95 percent retention, graduation and employment rate for its mentees. Prior to this venture, Allen was the co-founder of Total Solutions Group, an IBM Business Partner technology integrator whose annual sales totaled $40 million.
Growing up in Syracuse, N.Y., Allen's family lived in public-housing projects until his junior year in high school. Witnessing his father's frustrations with finding a job as an unskilled worker, Allen was determined to succeed, so he pursued academic achievement.
It was at Hobart that Allen witnessed firsthand the negative implications that a lack of leadership and mentorship had on his male peers. He was distraught when the majority of the men of color from his class year did not graduate with him.
Immediately after graduation, Allen went to work for IBM Corporation, where he rose through the ranks as a marketing representative and product manager, before leaving the company in 1993 to co-found Total Solutions Group (TSG) in Minneapolis. Within seven years, the firm was recognized as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies by the Minnesota Business Journal.
Allen used his success to create opportunities. He opened classrooms on weekends to provide free computer training to disadvantaged young people, which heralded the beginning of TSG University, a non-profit organization whose mission was to provide technology education and certification to residents in underserved communities.
Allen's sales pitch for the new venture offered sponsors, who gave an annual contribution of about $20,000, the opportunity to hire three TSG University graduates per year. By 1999, the University had 10 sponsors, including TSG, NSP, Land O'Lakes, Hubbard Broadcasting, Green Tree Financial and the Mayo Foundation. Several of the sponsors not only provided financial support, but also committed volunteer instructors to teach. In 2000, Allen facilitated the sale of the Total Solutions Group to netASPx, which led to the eventual creation of TSG Server and Storage.
Graduating from Hobart with a B.A. in economics, Allen was a Dean's List student and a four-year varsity letter winner in football. He received the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award, was a Lois Bampton Scholarship recipient and was a member of the economics honor society. He received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and was appointed to the Hobart and William Smith Board of Trustees in 2004.
Allen remains committed to his alma mater, mentoring students at Hobart. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization. He previously served as president to the Colleges' Afro-Latino Alumni and Alumnae Association and was a Trustee from 2004-2008.