The Most Powerful African Americans In Corporate America


and to vice president, secretary, and general counsel of PBFS in 1994. In April 1998, he assumed additional responsibilities as senior associate general counsel-mergers and acquisitions. The St. Louis native earned law and business degrees from Harvard and his master of laws degree in taxation from New York University Law School.

Chris C. Womack, Sr. VP, Fossil & Hydro Power, Georgia Power Co., Southern Co., Age: 47, Womack oversees coal and gas-fired generating facilities for Georgia Power, which serves more than 2 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Womack also serves as an officer in Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing, a business unit that manages 72 fossil and hydro plants. Womack came to Georgia Power from Alabama Power as a governmental affairs representative, having worked as a U.S. Congressional legislative aide. The $5 billion Georgia Power is the largest of five electric utilities that make up Southern Co., a regional energy company. Womack is on the boards of A.G. Gaston Enterprises and Boy Scouts of America, and is a member of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta. A native of Greenville, Alabama, Womack has a bachelor’s from Western Michigan University.

Al Zollar, General Manager, Tivoli Software, IBM, Age: 50, Zollar oversees the strategic direction and operation of the Tivoli software brand for IT infrastructure, storage, and security management at the $89.1 billion company. A Big Blue heavyweight, Zollar was the executive who steered Lotus’ transition from a private company to an integrated software division. Over the past two decades, he has held executive positions within all of IBM’s software units as well as its hardware business. Zollar, who has a master’s in applied mathematics from the University of California, first came to IBM in 1977 as a systems engineer trainee. He sits on the board of directors of Chubb Corp. He’s also an advocate and supporter of business and community-based organizations aimed at expanding opportunities for minorities. A member of the Executive Leadership Council, he also co-chairs the IBM Black Family Technology Awareness project.


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