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In 1969, on his first day at the Greater Washington Board of Trade, John Tydings got stuck in a broken elevator. That same week, he went into a meeting, leaned back in his chair, and felt it collapse under him.
"There's a lot to fix around here," parking-lot magnate Bud Doggett told Tydings.
For the next 32 years, that's what John Tydings did. Under his leadership, the Board of Trade expanded its reach from downtown DC to the region and widened its focus beyond business to concern for the whole community.
"His network of contacts includes every facet of the community's public and private sectors," says John Derrick, chief executive of PEPCO and former chair of the Board of Trade. "He has built his effectiveness on two key ingredients – competency and trust."
Tydings grew up in Anacostia – a diverse neighborhood even then, he says. He studied history and psychology at the University of Maryland, went back for graduate study in finance and accounting, then headed to New York to seek his fortune.
His New York state of mind lasted four months. Tydings came home to look for a job in DC, ran into a PEPCO recruiter he had met at University of Maryland, and was hired to work for the utility's personnel-services group.
In 1968 PEPCO lent Tydings to the White House and the National Alliance of Business jobs project. NAB sent Tydings to run a summer-jobs program at the Board of Trade. Tydings never went back to the utility business.
The Board of Trade that Tydings joined was largely white, male and rooted in a city still reeling from the 1968 riots. Under Tydings' leadership, the BOT built housing units and started recreation centers. He recruited leaders from around the area and concentrated on regional development. The Board of Trade's science-industry committee helped lure technology firms.
Tydings was a founder of Leadership Washington and helped Junior Achievement develop here. He is deeply involved with Heroes Inc. and its president of the National Capital Area Foundation.
Tydings retired in 2002 as president of the Board of Trade, but he is still a major booster of the Washington region.
"This community is so rich in human talent," Tydings says. "Our diversity is our strength. We have the capacity to solve any problem if we set our minds to it."
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