Byron Lewis

By: BlackEntrepreneurProfile.com

Born: December 25, 1931, Newark, NJ

Company: UniWorld Group,

Position: Chairman,

Industry: Advertising,

Country: United States

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Byron Eugene Lewis, founded UniWorld Group, in 1969 after searching unsuccessfully to find employment within the historically restricted mainstream advertising agencies. Over the past 35 years he has built a company that produces advertising, event marketing, public relations and promotions for an impressive roster of clients including Fortune 500 companies. 

Under his leadership, the company has won some of the largestest advertising deals to be awarded to a minority agency, including the Masterfoods (M&M/Mars) 3 Musketteers general food account, which has been with the agency since 1995. Byron has also lead UniWorld in breakthrough creative campaigns for clients such as Ford and Lincoln.

UK based advertising conglomerate, WPP Group, acquired a 49% stake in UniWorld in 2000. In 2003, UniWorld Group had billings of $233 million.

A known figure in the world of broadcasting, Byron was responsible for many nationally televised specials including "This Far by Faith" for Rev. Benjamin Hooks, the former Executive Director of the NAACP; "Sweet Auburn" with the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta; and annual telecasts of the Congressional Black Caucus weekends. He produced the annual Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame TV specials and Sounds of the City, a syndicated Black radio soap opera. He served as Executive Producer for America's Black Forum, the only Black news program airing on commercial television which is syndicated in over 70 major markets. Under his UniWorld Films division, he created the Acapulco Black Film Festival which drew the who's who from Black Hollywood.

Byron has long-standing associations with prominent African American leadership. In the 70's and 80's, he supervised advertising and media strategies for Kenneth Gibson's mayoral campaign, the first Black Political Summit in Gary, Indiana; Rev. Jesse Jackson's first Presidential campaign, and the first on-site Black radio and press coverage of the 1976 Democratic and Republican Presidential National Conventions.

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