Power couples

Ebony, Feb, 1992

THEY'RE power people--people who stand out because of their clout, careers and connections.

As individuals, they're influential.

As partners--power couples--they're awesome.

But it's not their combined clout that makes these couples so extraordinary. What make them truly special is their talent for building a magical marriage without sacrificing a momentous career.

Whether they're newly wed or headed for a golden anniversary, these couples seek out the rewards of family as much as those of career and somehow manage to make the delicate balancing act look effortless.

It isn't.

For every one of these couples, constant travel, frequent separation and marathon days are the rule. They have to work as hard at their romances as they do at their careers. But they do it, they say, for one simple reason: without each other, all the professional kudos in the world would be hollow, empty.

On the following pages, five power couples shares their secrets for having it all and keeping their careers steady, their love strong and their marriage solid.

DESIREE and JOHN ROGERS

"We try to make efficient use of our weekends," says Illinois Lottery Director Desiree Rogers, explaining how she and her husband, John Rogers, founder of Chicago's super-successful Ariel Capital Management, juggle the demands of 14-hour days, marriage and parenthood.

Since, as John Rogers admits, their business and personal schedules "collide all the time," the Rogers keep their love strong by placing the other's passions and interests first. "Desiree enjoys travel, so I try to find fun places to go," he says.

That kind of thoughtfulness goes both ways. When, for instance, Desiree Rogers couldn't miss a recent affair though he wanted her to accompany him to dinner at the home of friends, she went out of her way not to disappoint him. "She just went to the cocktail hour," he says, "rather than spending three or four hours, and then she came on to the dinner."

DOLORES and CLIFTON WHARTON JR.

"My husband has always made me feel like Cinderella," says Dolores Wharton.

The busy executive and mother and her husband, Clifton Wharton Jr., chairman and CEO of the country's largest private pension fund, and the first Black to head a Fortune 100 Service company, go to extra lengths to ensure that their romance doesn't suffer because of two constant 14-hour-a-day schedules.

Before heading up the New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund, Wharton was the first Black to head the nation's largest university system (the State University of New York) and the first Black to chair a top U.S. foundation (the Rockefeller Foundation).

Dolores Wharton's career is equally impressive. She is the founder and CEO of the Fund for Corporate Initiatives, a nonprofit company that supports the role of minorities and women in the corporate world, and she sits on the boards of Kellogg, Phillips Petroleum and Gannett. The mother of two sons, she wrote the first history of modern Malaysian art and, last year, was named by Fortune magazine as one of America's most fascinating business people.

"Dolores and I have always had a basic philosophy," says Dr. Wharton on what they do to ensure that they don't drift apart. "We have our own independent career goals, but we always try to be fully supportive of each other.

JOSHUA SMITH and

JACQUELINE JONES-SMITH

They're probably the only husband and wife in America with his and her presidential appointments. In October 1989, President Bush appointed her chair and commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency charged with protecting the public from injury and death from products. Since taking office, the former Federal Election Commission attorney has been instrumental in recalling more than 59 million products that presented substantial hazards to consumers.

He's probably best known as chairman and CEO of Maxima Corp., the computer systems and management information company which is one of the largest Black-owned firms in the country. But, like his wife, Smith has a presidential appointment of his own: to the U.S. Commission on Minority Business Development, where he serves as chairman.

Friendship, flexibility and unwavering support are the basis of their unique partnership. And although Smith travels as much as 50 percent of his time, he always makes time and space for the relationship. When, for instance, his wife held her first press conference as U.S. Consumer Product Safety chair, Smith hopped a plane and flew all night to be there. "He's as comfortable being Mr. Jones-Smith as I am being Mrs. Josh Smith," says Jones-Smith.

LEOLA (ROSCOE) and RONALD DELLUMS

"Ron and I operate as a team," says Roscoe Dellums, explaining how she and her high-powered husband, California Congressman Ron Dellums, have kept their marriage and careers flourishing while raising three children. Actually, says the well-known Washington attorney and former principal Washington consultant to the California state legislature, teamwork is just part of it.