Say What? 4 Black Female Executives Exit Top Roles At Major Corporations

The diversity, equity, and inclusion space, specifically in Hollywood, is witnessing a reckoning. Reports show four seasoned and talented Black women DEI executives at three major corporations have stepped down or been dismissed.

According to Variety, the first wave of announcements began on June 20. The news outlet obtained an internal memo stating that Disney’s Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President Latondra Newton would be exiting her role after over six years. She is one of three execs leaving organizations on their own accord. Though Newton is departing Disney, she is looking forward to joining the corporate board of another company as well as committing more time to her self-owned creative company, a source told Variety.

Eight days later, on June 28, news broke that Netflix’s Head of Inclusion Strategy Vernā Myers, would be stepping down from her role in September. She told Variety that she will return to her consulting company, The Vernā Myers Co., “working across global organizations and industries while continuing to advise Netflix.”

Myers was the first to ever serve in the role for the streaming giant when she joined in 2018. Over the past five years, Myers’ work has led her to author Netflix’s first inclusion report in 2021, which discloses representation stats for the company’s workforce and initiatives in workplace culture and programming. Netflix’s Vice President of Inclusion Strategy Wade Davis will be her replacement. Davis was the NFL’s first LGBT inclusion consultant, where he worked at the intersection of sexism, racism, and homophobia to build inclusive leadership strategies and engagement initiatives.

A day after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action on June 30, it was reported that Warner Brothers Discovery laid off its Senior Vice President of North America Diversity Equity and Inclusion Karen Horne as a result of “restructuring” how they “educate, empower, and engage” their employees. A memo by WBD further revealed the company’s plans to enlist “designated leads who are tasked solely with employee-related initiatives in each region.”

Throughout her career, Horne has been recognized as a Diversity and Inclusion pioneer and creative pipeline builder with a broad portfolio of programs and initiatives. BLACK ENTERPRISE invited the then-high-profile SVP of Programming Talent Development and Inclusion at NBC Entertainment and Universal Television Studios to offer her expertise at the 2016 Women of Power Summit. She addressed how you can build trust, confidence, and respect that will make your team unbreakable.

An additional report on June 30 announced that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would be losing its Executive Vice President of Impact and Inclusion Jeanell English. She accepted the newly created position in July 2022 and went on to design and implement the Academy Film Accelerator, which amplifies and supports the careers of filmmakers from underrepresented communities.

During BE’s Chief Diversity Officer Summit & Honors, Fidelity Investments’ Head of Office of Diversity & Inclusion Wendy John spoke briefly about the result of the affirmative action ruling. “We should expect that the ruling will empower some of the individuals in the organizations to start to ask questions that challenge some of the programs that we have,” said John.

Since then, the news regarding these DEI execs’ departures has sparked a whirlwind of heavy commentary across social media — including a concerned post from Hollywood star Yvette Nicole Brown. Users are heartbroken, while others suggest the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in college admissions does not affect these recent decisions.