Archmere Alum Bianca Frasier Johnson '98 Honored by Wilmington Jaycees

Recently Bianca received the prestigious 2014 Outstanding Young Wilmingtonian Award from the Wilmington Jaycees primarily for her volunteerism and leadership with the MS Society, on whose board she has served for 10 years, and for whom she founded an Emerging Leaders Council. 
“You can do anything you set your heart and mind to.  We believe in you.”

These are words that Archmere Academy 1998 Alum Bianca Fraser-Johnson heard from her parents while growing up first in Canada then Greenville. These words prompted her in second grade to launch her first fundraising endeavor and still echo in her ears as she continues to seek a seemingly endless list of leadership opportunities.

Today, Bianca continues to be motivated to share that spirit with others who just need what she got as a youngster, a “boost of self-confidence.” 

Now a Senior Vice President at Bank of America (BOA) in Employee Banking & Investments, Bianca has received her company’s Delaware Volunteer Service Award for community involvement. She serves on the Board of a number of nonprofit organizations including Leadership Delaware, the Delaware Youth Leadership Network and The Independence School. Within BOA, Bianca’s leadership has resulted in the establishment of a professional development program for women and an annual Family Volunteer Day event which 500 employees attend.

Recently, Bianca received the prestigious 2014 Outstanding Young Wilmingtonian Award from the Wilmington Jaycees primarily for her volunteerism and leadership with the MS Society, on whose board she has served for 10 years, and for whom she founded an Emerging Leaders Council. 

“Very few people realize that each hour, another person is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, that women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed, that children live with this unpredictable disease, and that Delaware has one of the highest incidence rates,” Bianca says.

While in grade school at Ursuline Academy, Bianca participated in the MS Read-A-Thon and in seventh grade, expanded her door-to-door fundraising to seeking corporate sponsorships of her MS Walk team, “Spicy Stuff,” which she continues to lead. Thanks to generous sponsors, her team has raised nearly $1 million which led to Bianca’s induction into the National MS Fundraising Hall of Fame in 2002.

“Bianca has a passion for making a difference which she is already doing for MS, other non-profits and the business sector,” says Terry Strine who established and directs Leadership Delaware. “I’m proud to work with her to see all she’ll no doubt accomplish in the future.”

Since its inception in 2009, Leadership Delaware has identified and developed almost 100 young leaders like Bianca who are already having an impact throughout the state. She currently chairs its Alumni Council.

“What caught my attention about Leadership Delaware was the quote on its site: knowledge is a key element and prime motivator of leadership. I am a huge advocate of education and wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Though many of us have been blessed with terrific educational opportunities, we lack what Leadership Delaware provides which is in depth knowledge of key issues facing the state.
 
“Combine that knowledge with the ambition of the fellows participating in the program, and what I believe will develop is a group of leaders who will positively influence and shape multiple facets of Delaware life – from government to business to nonprofit.
 
“In fact, I think we’re already leaving our footprints on Delaware,” she adds.  Her belief in Leadership Delaware and her passion for developing others contributed to the founding of the Delaware Youth Leadership Network by her friend Margaret O’Dwyer. DYLN is a leadership program for high school Juniors in New Castle County, and Bianca serves on the Board.

In addition to her parents, local leaders and friends such as MBNA founder Charles Cawley, the late Dolores Alfano, beloved community leader, and Strine himself, Bianca finds inspiration in one of our earliest presidents. “John Quincy Adams said ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’ That’s become my personal life quote.”
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Archmere Academy is a private, Catholic, college preparatory co-educational academy,
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.