Behind the boardroom

Ebony, Jan, 2005 by Lynette Holloway

A major national conference of Blacks who sit on the boards of major corporations spotlighted the importance of increasing the number of Black corporate board directors and creating better economic opportunities for African-Americans and all Americans.

In Chicago, an estimated 85 people attended the third annual Black Corporate Directors Conference, which was founded and sponsored by John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Capital, a Chicago-based money management firm, and Charles A. Tribbett III, managing director of Russell Reynolds Associates, a global executive recruitment and management assessment firm.

The conference was attended by a range of community leaders, academics, and corporate executives, including Steve Reinemund, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo; Desiree Rogers, the first Black president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, a subsidiary of Peoples Energy in Illinois; Lerone Bennett Jr., executive editor of EBONY and historian; Erroll Davis, chairman and CEO of Alliant Energy; Anthony Deering, chairman and CEO of the Rouse Company; and H. Carl McCall, former comptroller for the State of New York.

"This conference was important because we were able to learn from one another how to be effective in the boardroom," Rogers said. "When we come together like this, we exchange ideas and concepts."

Tribbett echoed those sentiments: "The purpose of the conference was to bring together African-American directors to discuss issues relating to diversity and to network with one another."

While African-Americans continue to be woefully underrepresented within the ranks of corporate America, a review of data assembled primarily by EBONY and Fortune magazines shows an increase in the number since the appointment of the first two in 1964. Today, there are 185 Black board directors, and they hold 544 of the total 3,786 seats available, according to Russell Reynolds, which maintains a database of Black corporate board directors. (Some African-American directors hold seats on as many as six boards.)

Experts like David A. Thomas, a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who was the conference facilitator, say the number of Black board directors will continue to grow as more and more African-Americans achieve mainstream success. Yet, he and others sounded a note of caution, saying that some of the gains have been achieved only when companies face adversity.

The invitation-only, day-and-a-half event provided a perfect setting for executives to talk openly about their concerns. The directors, who represented a wide spectrum of corporations, including Verizon, McDonald's, Target, Exelon Corporation and Delta, talked about how to gain an edge in the corporate succession race. Some conference participants said they did not want to be typecast as the lone Black voice in the boardroom. Others said that Black board members are board members, but they are also Black board members who have an obligation to push for a shared American market.

The directors urged one another to use philanthropy as a way to spur economic development in the Black community. In addition, networking played a vital role at the event, allowing directors from San Francisco to Chicago, and from New York to Atlanta to meet to discuss common issues.

In small group sessions, a new generation of male and female Black corporate board directors worked side by side to usher in a new era of leadership. Rogers, who sits on several major boards, including McDonald's and Exelon Corporation, was encouraged by the response to the conference.

"We wanted to talk to one another to get ideas and concepts on how to make a difference," Rogers said. "We wanted to learn from one another how to make a difference for African-Americans and all Americans while wearing our board hat."

BLACK CORPORATE DIRECTORS

By The Numbers

YEAR   TOTAL

1963   0
1964   * 2 ( )
1987   80
1994   146
1997   179
2004   185

Research provided by EBONY
magazine in association with
Directorship, a corporate research
firm, and Russell Reynolds, which
maintains a database of Black corporate
board directors.

* The first two Black directors of major corporations were Attorney Samuel R. Pierce Jr. and North Carolina insurance executive Asa T. Spaulding, who were appointed on the same day in June 1964 to the boards of U.S. Industries and W.T. Grant Co., respectively.

Background

* The first Black director of a major automobile company was the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, who was named to the board of directors of General Motors on January 4, 1971.

* The first Black director of a major entertainment corporation was John H. Johnson, founder, publisher and chairman of EBONY magazine, who attended his first Twentieth Century Fox board of directors meeting on March 18, 1971.