Consider them the guardians of shareholder value. Charged with protecting trillions in assets, the #directors who serve on the boards of the nation’s largest corporations play the most critical role in business development. Collectively, they’ve deliberated and debated decisions on multibillion-dollar acquisitions that made enterprises globally competitive, on #divestitures that rescued moribund companies, on #restructurings that have downsized tens of thousands of employees, on technological advancements that transformed industries, and on dismissals of legions of underperforming CEOs. “I’ve seen it all, and it’s been incredibly fascinating,” says Vernon Jordan Jr., senior managing director of investment bank Lazard FrËres & Co. L.L.C. and a 35-year boardroom veteran who serves as a director of Xerox and American #Express. “It’s been a process where I have been able to grow, develop, and mature in terms of #understanding not only the system but how human #beings react to situations. I’ve seen grown men cry.”
Jordan-along with Time Warner Chairman Richard D. Parsons and former Ford Foundation President Franklin Thomas (pictured)-is a part of the corporate elite who oversee the Goliaths of the global economy. In fact, Parsons and Thomas, both directors of Citigroup, were among the board members selected to find a replacement for former CEO Charles Prince, who was forced out in November when the financial giant took a staggering $13.7 billion in write-offs tied to subprime mortgages.
The actions of board members can have major industry-shaking consequences. One director on our list, Jon E. Barfield, CEO of The Bartech Group Inc. (No. 23 on the be industrial/service 100 list with $203 #million in gross sales), attended more than 15 board meetings last year in his role as corporate director #during media baron Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion takeover of Dow Jones & Co. “It was fascinating to be part of corporate history,” says Barfield, who #witnessed corporate intrigue involving the shrewd entrepreneur, the discordant owners, the Bancroft family, and a company in turmoil as ownership changed hands at The Wall Street Journal.
It’s a challenge for any professional to rise to this level. For blacks, it’s even more daunting. Although minority #representation has increased over the past four decades, blacks are still absent from most corporate boards. Why should this news be important to you? Even though African Americans make up a significant share of consumers and shareholders of these companies, they are woefully underrepresented when it comes to corporate governance.
Over the past several months, black enterprise #conducted its own research on the subject. Our editors interviewed scores of board members, corporate #governance experts, and representatives from the nation’s largest public #companies. (See our methodology sidebar.)
MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES
As a corporate watchdog, boards select their #members from a portfolio of heavyweights from #divergent business, legal, and financial backgrounds. “A high-tech company will want people with relative experience,” says Gerald Davis, professor of management at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. “A company that does a lot of business with the #government will want to have a former senator or someone with cabinet experience.”
Typically, boards have nine to 12 members, two of whom are usually insiders: the CEO and CFO. The other directors usually consist of senior managers from public companies, private investors, lawyers, retired CPAs, and heads of foundations and universities. Committees are usually divided among the following areas: audit, which oversees the finances of the company and is considered the most critical from the point of view of investors; governance and nominating, which reviews policies and procedures as well as recommends new directors; compensation, which determines the performance and compensation of senior management; and executive, which assumes responsibilities should the CEO be unable to perform his or her duties. The median salary for a board member is $100,000 a year, plus fees for serving on a committee and attending meetings.
According to corporate governance experts, corporate boards have become more transparent due in large part to post-Enron financial reforms that grew out of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and to greater shareholder activism-especially from pension fund administrators and mutual fund managers. “The general feel is that there is a sea change compared to five years ago in the way boards carry out their responsibilities,” says Ram Charan, author of Boards That Deliver: Advancing Corporate Governance from Compliance to Competitive Advantage (Jossey-Bass; $27.95). “So boards now are really doing what they are supposed to do, and that is to govern the corporation and add value to the company.” Charan maintains that directors have five major responsibilities: hire “the right CEO” and put in place an actionable succession plan; monitor the financial performance of the company as well as make sure it operates in an ethical manner and in the interests of shareholders; ensure that the company has developed a solid business model and strategic focus; review the compliance of internal policies related to financial reporting and risk management; and oversee the company’s programs to create a pipeline for future leadership.
A number of board members have been selected after working with CEOs and other power brokers on nonprofits and charities as well as networking through business associations, political gatherings, and country clubs. Also, companies look for people who have had board experience, even if they gained their governance credentials by working on foundation and university boards. “Entry seemed to be having a high-profile position and high visibility in public service and evidence of exercising good judgment,” Davis says. Multiboard member Ira D. Hall says he is usually recruited because he qualifies as a financial expert and is capable of chairing an audit committee. The former president and CEO of Utendahl Capital Management L.P. (No. 6 on the be asset managers list with $2.6 billion in assets under management) serves on the audit and management compensation committees of Pepsi Bottling Group, as well as on several other boards.
The power and influence of directors grow exponentially based on the number of boards on which they serve. In 2003, five blacks were listed among the top 10 individuals serving on at least seven boards. They were entrepreneur Willie Davis; former Congressman and United Negro College Fund CEO William H. Gray III; former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson; and Jordan. Why so many boards? Billionaire Bob Johnson says that the same people keep surfacing “because high-powered white men only know 1.5 black people, so the same names are tossed around a small group of influential people.”
DIVERSITY IN THE BOARDROOM
In early September 2007, more than 100 high-powered black entrepreneurs and professionals gathered at the three-day Black Corporate Directors Conference at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California. For six years, John Rogers, chairman of Ariel Capital Management (No. 2 on the be asset managers list with $16 billion in assets under management) and Charles A. Tribbett III, a senior partner of executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, have brought together black board members for networking and leadership coaching. (See BlackEnterprise.com for a video report from Black Enterprise Business Report.)
The Rev. Leon Sullivan and corporate chieftain Clifton Wharton, part of the first wave of black directors, drove the agendas of equality and supplier diversity while serving on the boards of General Motors and Ford, respectively. Rogers wants to use his
conference to help blacks become more adroit corporate directors as well as to serve as a catalyst for change within corporate America on a grander scale. “We want to make sure we are inspiring each other to get the civil rights agenda on the boardroom table,” says Rogers, who sits on the boards of McDonald’s, Aon, and Exelon. “When African Americans got on a board, we were finding that they were happy to be there but felt uncomfortable rocking the boat. They didn’t want to be typecast as a civil rights director. If the few of us who have this good fortune to be in the boardroom are uncomfortable bringing up race issues, they’re not going to be raised, and we won’t make a difference.”
At last year’s meeting, Rogers and Tribbett unveiled the #”Corporate Diversity Call To Action,” a manifesto for attendees to promote diversity “as a critical component of good governance and an overarching business imperative” that is “in the best interest of all shareholders.” The directors were urged to go back to their boards and push for greater minority representation at all levels of the organization; for an increase in procurement dollars spent with minority enterprises; and for greater philanthropic contributions to civic and charitable organizations. Conference attendees immediately embraced the initiative. Rogers also presented the declaration to the corporate-responsibility committee at McDonald’s and received a positive reception.
Jordan, however, is not keen on African Americans using board positions as bully pulpits to promote diversity. “I’m from a different school. There is nothing in the articles of incorporation of any company that says the role of a black director is #different from the role of a white director. You are a director,” he says. “No. 1, your first job is knowledge. You have to figure out who the players are. Who are chairmen of committees and why? Who are the weak executives and the strong executives? Who are the most influential directors and noninfluential directors? You have to know how the company operates, and that takes time. No. 2, if you are black, it is assumed you know something about diversity. It is not assumed that you know some#thing about what goes on in the audit committee.”
Steven Rogers (no
relation to John), professor of entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a director of SuperValu, maintains that “advocating diversity is not shunning your fiduciary responsibilities. If you’re not speaking out about diversity, then why have you on the board?” In fact, he maintains that his posture is no different from a director with specific expertise in, say, environmental affairs using his or her position to make it a part of the corporate agenda. And he is so passionate about this issue that he resigned as chair of the financial committee from the board of a Midwestern utility, because its management was “passive aggressive” in contracting black financial services firms.Other directors see even greater synergy between diversity and shareholder value. “My personal belief is that it’s in the best interest of shareholders for there to be a high-performance culture for all employees, where every employee believes that he can be evaluated, rewarded, and promoted based on his contribution. So in that sense, diversity and inclusion is a shareholder value issue to me,” Hall says. “I’m very passionate about it, but I pursue it in the high-performance management team, high-performance #culture, and shareholder value context. And I’ve found that is an irrefutable argument.”
“There is a fair amount of evidence that having black directors has helped a number of companies broaden their perspectives about their business models and human capital. It’s no coincidence that organizations that seem to be doing better at promoting diversity in their managerial ranks tend to have more diverse boards,” says Harvard Business School professor David A. Thomas, citing the vital role of black directors in furthering corporate involvement in key social issues. “For example, in the University of Michigan affirmative action lawsuit some years ago, it was a group of black directors who took some leadership in getting companies to take a stand on the benefits of diversity for the society.”
High on the agenda in the Sarbanes-Oxley era is keeping the pipeline of black board members flowing. Says Tribbett: “Since the days of Leon Sullivan, we have made some progress but have a lot more to go. We have African Americans who are capable of becoming CEOs of Fortune 100 companies or presidents responsible for some of the biggest decisions of those companies. That places them in very critical positions to become really strong directors at some notable companies.”
As demonstrated by Parsons, a board seat can be the pathway to the executive suite. He joined the Time Warner board in 1991 as an independent director. During his tenure on the board, he became the company’s president in 1995, was named CEO in 2002, and added the chairman title in 2003. When he stepped down last month as Time Warner’s chief executive, Parsons did not sever his ties with the media giant. He still remains chairman of the board.
In 1973, black enterprise first reported on blacks in the corporate boardroom. On that list, our editors found 72 African American directors of roughly 100 major corporations. Five were women, including attorney Patricia Roberts Harris, the first black woman to serve on a presidential cabinet.
One notable boardroom pioneer was the Rev. Leon Sullivan. Appointed to the General Motors board in 1971, the founder of Philadelphia-based Opportunities Industrialization Center fought against racial inequality and apartheid, the policy of racial discrimination enforced by the white minority government in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. By 1977, he #developed the Sullivan Principles, a corporate code of conduct that promoted equal opportunity and human rights. In the 1980s, it was formally adopted by more than 125 corporations, which shut down operations and divested holdings associated with South Africa. Says James Lowry, a Chicago-based senior adviser to The Boston Consulting Group: “Rev. Sullivan was a very impressive, bold change agent when he was on the General Motors board.”
Another trailblazing director was Clifton R. Wharton Jr., a high-powered educator and diplomat who became the first black CEO of one of the nation’s 1,000 largest publicly traded companies. Wharton “asked key questions to Ford Motor Co. about what they were doing in the area of minority business development. [It] really impacted the whole minority business community because Ford responded,” Lowry says. As a result, Ford #significantly increased its spending with minority businesses, and other major corporations followed suit. Asserts Lowry: “I don’t think we’ve been the same since.
-Cliff Hocker
Corporate Directors on three or more boards of the 250 largest companies
| Name | Number |
| William H. Gray III | 5 |
| Shirley Ann Jackson | 5 |
| James I. Cash Jr. | 4 |
| Aulana L. Peters | 4 |
| Robert L. Ryan | 4 |
| Calvin Darden | 3 |
| Karen Hastie Williams | 3 |
| IGN=”TOP”>Marian L. Heard | 3 |
| Alexis M. Herman | 3 |
| Walter E. Massey | 3 |
| Rodney O’Neal | 3 |
| Charles E. Phillips Jr. | 3 |
| Joyce M. RochÈ | 3 |
| John W. Rogers Jr. | 3 |
| Frank S. Royal | 3 |
| Joshua I. Smith | 3 |
Boardroom Methodology
How we compiled the black enterprise Registry of Corporate Directors
The 2008 black enterprise list of black corporate directors of the 250 largest companies was compiled by our #editors after six months of research. This comprehensive effort included reviews of proxy statements, annual reports,
First our editorial research team identified the l,000 largest American companies, ranking them according to their annual revenues, and then focused in on the 250 largest corporations. Our researchers then collected all of the proxy statements and annual reports from these corporations as well as information from the Securities and Exchange Commission. After identifying thousands of directors serving on the boards of these corporations, we contacted the investor relations department of each company to confirm the number and identity of black directors on their boards. When investor relations departments were unresponsive or refused to confirm the ethnic representation on their boards, our research team contacted individual board members directly to confirm their participation and that of other black directors who served with them. When companies were unresponsive and #individual directors could not be reached, we relied on independent #confirmation of information provided in those companies’ most recent proxy statements.
47
FEATURE
SPECIAL REPORT
POWER IN THE BOARDROOM
The BE Registry of Corporate Directors
Our exclusive roster of black corporate directors at America’s 250 largest companies
| NAME | TITLE | BOARDS |
| Paul T. Addison | Retired Managing Director, Salomon Smith Barney | First Energy |
| Basil L. Anderson | Retired Vice Chairman, Staples | Staples |
| Brian P. Anderson | Former CFO, Baxter International | Pulte Homes |
| Reuben V. Anderson | Partner, Phelps Dunbar L.L.P. | AT&T, Kroger |
| David R. Andrews | Retired Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, PepsiCo | PG&E Corp. |
| Dennis W. Archer | Chairman, Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. | Johnson Controls, Masco |
| H. Jesse Arnelle | Retired Senior Partner, Arnelle, Hastie, McGee, Willis & Greene | Textron |
| Kenneth J. Bacon | Executive Vice President, Housing & Community Development, Fannie Mae | Comcast |
| Juanita P. Baranco | Executive Vice President & COO, Baranco Automotive Group | Southern Co. |
| Jon E. Barfield | Chairman & CEO, The Bartech Group | National City Corp. |
| James A. Bell | Executive Vice President & CFO, Boeing | Dow Chemical |
| J. Veronica Biggins | Partner, HNCL SEARCH | Avnet |
| Charles F. Bolden Jr. | CEO, Jack and Panther L.L.C. | Marathon Oil |
| James E. Bostic Jr. | Managing Director, HEP Associates | Progress Energy |
| Ralph F. Boyd Jr. | Chairman & CEO, Freddie Mac Foundation | DIRECTV Group |
| Marvin D. Brailsford | Retired Vice President, Kaiser-Hill Co. L.L.C. | Illinois Tool Works |
| Robert J. Brown | Chairman & CEO, B&C Associates, Inc. | AutoNation |
| Wayne A. Budd | Senior Counsel, Goodwin Procter L.L.P. | McKesson |
| Ursula M. Burns | President, Xerox Corp. | Xerox, American Express |
| Mary K. Bush | President, Bush International | UAL |
| Carolyn H. Byrd | Chairman & CEO, GlobalTech Financial | Circuit City Stores |
| Herman Cain | President & CEO, THE New Voice Inc. | Whirlpool |
| Kirbyjon H. Caldwell | Senior Pastor, Windsor Village United Methodist Church | Continental Airlines, Reliant Energy |
| George Campbell Jr. | President, The Cooper Union | Consolidated Edison |
| Milton Carroll | Chairman, CenterPoint Energy Inc. | Halliburton |
| Benjamin S. Carson Sr. | Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Medicine | Costco Wholesale, Kellogg |
| Zachary W. Carter | Partner, Dorsey & Whitney L.L.P. | Marsh & McLennan |
| Jocelyn Carter-Miller | President, TechEdventures | Principal Financial |
| James I. Cash Jr. | Retired Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School | Chubb, General Electric, Microsoft, Wal-Mart Stores |
| Kenneth I. Chenault | Chairman & CEO, American Express | American Express, IBM |
| Frank M. Clark | Chairman & CEO, Commonwealth Edison | Aetna, Waste Management |
| Reatha Clark King | Former Chairman, General Mills Foundation | ExxonMobil |
| Virgis W. Colbert | Retired Executive Vice President, Miller Brewing Co. | Merrill Lynch, Sara Lee |
| Johnnetta B. Cole | President Emeritus, Spelman College & Bennett College for Women | Merck |
| Leonard S. Coleman | Retired Senior Advisor, Major League Baseball | Omnicom Group |
| Kay Coles James | President, The Gloucester Institute | PNC Financial Services |
| J. Gary Cooper | Chairman & CEO, Commonwealth National Bank | United States Steel |
| W. Don Cornwell | Chairman & CEO, Granite Broadcasting Corp. | Pfizer |
| Phillip R. Cox | President & CEO, Cox Financial | Duke Energy |
| Judith B. Craven | Retired President, United Way of Texas Gulf Coast | Sysco |
| Curtis J. Crawford | President & CEO, XCEO Inc. | DuPont |
| Yvonne M. Curl | Former Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Avaya Inc. | Nationwide |
| Ronald E. Daly | Former CEO, OcÈ-USA Holding Inc. | Supervalu |
| Calvin Darden | Chairman, Atlanta BeltLine | Cardinal Health, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Target |
| Erroll B. Davis Jr. | Chancellor, University System of Georgia | General Motors, Union Pacific |
| Gordon J. Davis | Senior Partner, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P. | Consolidated Edison |
| Willie D. Davis | CEO, All-Pro Broadcasting Inc. | Manpower |
| Lloyd H. Dean | President & CEO, Catholic Healthcare West | Wells Fargo |
| James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. | Chairman & CEO, WGL Holdings Inc. | Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance |
| Floretta Dukes McKenzie | Senior Advisor, American Institutes for Research | Marriott International |
| W. Roy Dunbar | President, Global Technology and Operations, MasterCard Worldwide | Electronic Data Systems, Humana |
| NAME | TITLE | BOARDS |
| Wayne Embry | Senior Basketball Advisor, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment | Kohl’s |
| Eugene Flood Jr. | President & CEO, Smith Breeden Associates Inc. | TIAA-CREF |
| Ann M. Fudge | Former Chairman & CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands | General Electric |
| Brenda J. Gaines | Retired President & CEO, Diners Club North America | Office Depot |
| Harvey B. Gantt | Partner, Gantt Huberman Architects | Nucor |
| James R. Gavin III | CEO, Healing Our Village | Baxter International |
| Ronald E. Goldsberry | Independent Contractor, Deloitte Consulting | Unum Group |
| Kim C. Goodman | Executive VP, Merchant Services N. America, American Express | width=”32%” valign=”top”>AutoNation |
| Bruce S. Gordon | Former President & CEO, NAACP | CBS |
| Earl G. Graves Sr. | Chairman & Publisher, Black Enterprise | Aetna, AMR |
| William H. Gray III | Chairman, Amani Group | Dell, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Pfizer, Prudential Financial, Visteon |
| Ernie Green | President & CEO, Ernie Green Industries | Eaton |
| William E. Green | Founder, William Green & Associates | Williams |
| Lloyd V. Hackley | President & CEO, Lloyd V. Hackley & Associates Inc. | Tyson Foods |
| Ira D. Hall | Former President & CEO, Utendahl Capital Management L.P. | Pepsi Bottling |
| Conrad K. Harper | Of Counsel, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett L.L.P. | Public Service Enterprise Group, New York Life Insurance |
| Isaiah Harris Jr. | Retired President, AT&T Advertising & Publishing/East | Cigna |
| Marcelite J. Harris | Retired Major General, U.S. Air Force | USAA |
| Karen Hastie Williams | Retired Partner, Crowell & Moring L.L.P. | Chubb, Continental Airlines, Sun Trust Banks |
| Marian L. Heard | President & CEO, Oxen Hill Partners | Liberty Mutual Insurance, CVS/Caremark, CVS/CaremarkRx |
| Alexis M. Herman | Chairman & CEO, New Ventures Inc. | Cummins, Entergy, The Coca-Cola Co. |
| Bonnie G. Hill | President, B. Hill Enterprises | Home Depot |
| V. Janet Hill | Vice President, Alexander & Associates Inc. | Dean Foods, Sprint Nextel |
| NAME | TITLE | BOARDS |
| Michele J. Hooper | Managing Partner, The Directors’ Council | PPG Industries, UnitedHealth Group |
| Freeman A. Hrabowski III | President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County | Constellation Energy |
| William C. Hunter | Dean, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa | Xerox |
| Mannie L. Jackson | Chairman, Harlem Globetrotters International | Ashland |
| Shirley Ann Jackson | President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | FEDEX, IBM, Public Service Enterprise Group, Medtronic, |
| Marathon Oil | ||
| John E. Jacob | Former Executive Vice President, Anheuser-Busch Cos. | Anheuser-Busch |
| Donna A. James | President, Lardon & Associates L.L.C. | Coca-Cola Enterprises, Limited Brands |
| Ronald James | President & CEO, Center for Ethical Business Cultures | Best Buy |
| Mae C. Jemison | President, BioSentient Corp. | Kimberly-Clark |
| Franklyn G. Jenifer | President Emeritus, University of Texas at Dallas | Chevron |
| Robert B. Johnson | Chairman & CEO, One America Foundation | AFLAC |
| Robert L. Johnson | Chairman, The RLJ Cos. | Lowe’s |
| Linda Johnson Rice | President & CEO, Johnson Publishing Co. | Kimberly-Clark, Omnicom Group |
| Dale E. Jones | Partner, Heidrick & Struggles | Northwestern Mutual |
| Thomas W. Jones | Senior Partner, TWJ Capital L.L.C. | Altria Group |
| William D. Jones | President & CEO, CityLink Investment Corp. | Sempra Energy |
| Vernon E. Jordan Jr. | Senior Managing Director, Lazard FrËres & Co. L.L.C. | American Express, Xerox |
| James G. Kaiser | Retired Chairman & CEO, Avenir Partners | Sunoco |
| Cleve L. Killingsworth | President & CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts | TIAA-CREF, Travelers Cos. |
| Gwendolyn S. King | President, Podium Prose | Lockheed Martin, Marsh & McLennan |
| Ronald Kirk | Partner, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. | Dean Foods |
| W.H. Knight Jr. | Dean Emeritus, University of Washington School of Law | State Farm Insurance Cos. |
| Benjamin J. Lambert III | Virginia State Senator | Dominion Resources |
| Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey | President & CEO, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Hess |
| Debra L. Lee | Chairman & CEO, BET Networks | Eastman Kodak, Marriott International |
| Pierre E. Leroy | Former President, Worldwide Construction & Parts Divisions, Deere & Co. | Capital One Financial |
| Aylwin B. Lewis | CEO, Sears Holdings Corp. | Sears Holdings, Walt Disney |
| David Baker Lewis | Chairman, Lewis & Munday | Kroger |
| Delano E. Lewis Sr. | Senior Fellow, New Mexico State University | Colgate-Palmolive, Eastman Kodak |
| William M. Lewis Jr. | Managing Director and co-Chairman of Investment Banking, Lazard | Freddie Mac |
| Lester L. Lyles | Retired General, U.S. Air Force | General Dynamics, USAA |
| Conrad Mallett Jr. | President, DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital | Lear |
| Lydia M. Marshall | Former CEO, Versura Inc. | Nationwide |
| Walter E. Massey | President Emeritus, Morehouse College | Bank of America, Delta Air Lines, McDonald’s |
| William G. Mays | President & CEO, Mays Chemical Co. | Wellpoint |
| Henry W. McGee | President, HBO Video | AmerisourceBergen |
| Raymond J. McGuire | Managing Director & Co-head of Global Investment Banking, Citigroup | Wyeth |
| Donald F. McHenry | Professor of Diplomacy, Georgetown University | International Paper, The Coca-Cola Co. |
| Glenda G. McNeal | SVP and General Manager, Establishment Services Division, American Express | United States Steel |
| George L. Miles Jr. | President & CEO, WQED Multimedia | American International Group |
| Steven A. Minter | Retired Executive Director, The Cleveland Foundation | Goodyear Tire & Rubber |
| Woodrow A. Myers Jr. | Managing Director, Myers Ventures L.L.C. | Express Scripts |
| Homer A. Neal | Director, ATLAS Project at University of Michigan | Ford Motor |
| Lionel L. Nowell III | SVP & Treasurer, PepsiCo Inc. | American Electric Power |
| Rodney O’Neal | President & CEO, Delphi Corp. | Delphi, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Sprint Nextel |
| Clarence Otis Jr. | Chairman & CEO, Darden Restaurants Inc. | Verizon Communications |
| O’dell M. Owens | Coroner, Hamilton County, Ohio | U.S. Bancorp |
| Ralph M. Paige | Executive Director, Federation of Southern Co-ops/Land Assistance Fund | Nationwide |
| Roderick R. Paige | Chairman, Chartwell Education Group L.L.C. | News Corp. |
| Richard D. Parsons | Chairman, Time Warner | Citigroup, Time Warner |
| Ulice Payne Jr. | Managing Member, Addison-Clifton L.L.C. | Northwestern Mutual, Manpower |
| Aulana L. Peters | Retired Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P. | Deere, Merrill Lynch, Northrop Grumman, 3M |
| Charles E. Phillips Jr. | President, Oracle Corp. | Morgan Stanley, Oracle, Viacom |
| Myrtle S. Potter | Consultant, Myrtle Potter Consulting L.L.C. | Amazon.com, Medco Health Solutions |
| Michael K. Powell | Chairman, MK Powell Group L.L.C. | Cisco Systems |
| Franklyn G. Prendergast | Director, Mayo Clinic for Individualized Medicine | Eli Lilly |
| Hugh B. Price | Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution | MetLife, Verizon Communications |
| Timothy D. Proctor | General Counsel, Diageo plc | Wachovia Corp. |
| Mary E. Pugh | President & Chief Investment Officer, Pugh Capital Management | Washington Mutual |
| J. Paul Reason | Retired Admiral, U.S. Navy | Amgen |
| Cordell Reed | Former SVP, Commonwealth Edison | Walgreen |
| Sidney A. Ribeau | President, Bowling Green State University | TIAA-CREF |
| Derica W. Rice | SVP and CFO, Eli Lilly | Target |
| Roy S. Roberts | Managing Director, Reliant Equity Investors | Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Abbott Laboratories |
| Oscar P. Robertson | Founder & President, Oscar Robertson Solutions | Countrywide Financial |
| Ray M. Robinson | Chairman, Citizens Trust Bank | AMR, Avnet |
| Joyce M. RochÈ | President & CEO, Girls Inc. | Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Macy’s |
| Johnathan A. Rodgers | President & CEO, TV One | Nike, Procter & Gamble |
| John W. Rogers Jr. | Chairman & CEO, Ariel Capital Management L.L.C. | Aon, Exelon, McDonald’s |
| Steven Rogers | Professor of Management and Finance, Northwestern University | DTH=”32%” VALIGN=”TOP”>Supervalu |
| James M. Rosser | President, California State University, Los Angeles | Edison International |
| Frank S. Royal | Physician | Dominion Resources, Smithfield Foods, SunTrust Banks |
| Robert L. Ryan | Retired CFO, Medtronic | Citigroup, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, |
| UnitedHealth Group | ||
| NAME | TITLE | BOARDS |
| David Satcher | Former U.S. Surgeon General | Johnson & Johnson, MetLife |
| Frank Savage | CEO, Savage Holdings L.L.C. | Lockheed Martin |
| Gloria R. Scott | Principal, G. Randle Services | Loews |
| Samuel C. Scott III | Chairman & CEO, Corn Products International | Bank of New York Co., Motorola |
| Bradley T. Sheares | CEO, Reliant Pharmaceuticals | Honeywell International, Progressive |
| Ruth J. Simmons | President, Brown University | Goldman Sachs Group, Texas Instruments |
| Richard H. Sinkfield | Partner, Rogers & Hardin | Weyerhaeuser |
| Rodney E. Slater | Partner, Patton Boggs L.L.P. | Northwest Airlines |
| Maceo K. Sloan | CEO, NCM Capital Management | TIAA-CREF |
| Joshua I. Smith | Chairman & Managing Partner, The Coaching Group L.L.C. | Allstate, Caterpillar, FEDEX |
| Jean G. Spaulding | Trustee, The Duke Endowment | Cardinal Health |
| William R. Spivey | Retired President & CEO, Luminent Inc. | Lyondell Chemical, Raytheon |
| Robert D. Storey | Retired Partner, Thompson Hine L.L.P. | Verizon Communications |
| H. Patrick Swygert | President, Howard University | Hartford Financial Services, United Technologies |
| Dorothy A. Terrell | Venture partner, First Light Capital | General Mills |
| Frederick O. Terrell | Managing Partner & CEO, Provender Capital Group L.L.C. | New York Life Insurance |
| Franklin A. Thomas | Consultant, The Study Group | Alcoa, Citigroup |
| Donald Thompson | President, McDonald’s USA | Exelon |
| John R. Thompson Jr. | Coach Emeritus, Georgetown University | Nike |
| John W. Thompson | Chairman & CEO, Symantec Corp. | United Parcel Service |
| Ronald L. Thompson | Former Chairman & CEO, Midwest Stamping & Manufacturing | TIAA-CREF |
| James D. Thornton | Former SVP & Director of Diversity, MBNA America Bank | Visteon |
| Jerry Sue Thornton | President, Cuyahoga Community College | National City Corp. |
| NAME | TITLE | BOARDS |
| Michael A. Todman | President, Whirlpool North America | Whirlpool |
| Hansel E. Tookes II | Retired President, Raytheon International | FPL Group |
| Kathryn C. Turner | CEO, Standard Technology | ConocoPhillips, Schering-Plough |
| George H. Walls Jr. | Retired Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps | PNC Financial Services Group |
| Carl Ware | Retired EVP, The Coca-Cola Co. | Chevron, Cummins |
| J.C. Watts Jr. | Chairman, J.C. Watts Cos. | Burlington Northern Sante Fe |
| Anthony Welters | Executive VP, UnitedHealth Group | Qwest Communications |
| Mary Beth West | Executive VP & Chief Marketing Officer, Kraft Foods | J.C. Penney |
| Kelvin R. Westbrook | CEO, Millennium Digital Media | Archer Daniels Midland |
| Fletcher H. Wiley | EVP and General Counsel, PRWT Services | TJX |
| Barry L. Williams | President, Williams Pacific Ventures | PG&E, Northwestern Mutual |
| Christopher J. Williams | Chairman & CEO, Williams Capital Group | Wal-Mart Stores |
| Jesse T. Williams Sr. | Retired VP, Human Resources, Goodyear Tire & Rubber | FirstEnergy |
| Ronald A. Williams | Chairman & CEO, Aetna | Aetna, American Express |
| Wesley S. Williams Jr. | Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Lockhart Cos. | Bear Stearns |
| Blenda J. Wilson | Former President, Nellie Mae Education Foundation | Medco health Solutions |
| Deborah C. Wright | Chairman & CEO, Carver Bancorp Inc. | Time Warner |
| Robert L. Wright | Chairman Emeritus, Dimensions International | AFLAC |
| Phail Wynn Jr. | President, Durham Technical Community College | SunTrust Banks |
| Kneeland C. Youngblood | Managing Partner, Pharos Capital Group | Gap |
| Alfred W. Zollar | General Manager, IBM Tivoli Software | Chubb |
Additional research by Hyacinth Carbon, Tennille M. Robinson, Nicole J. Ryan, Victoria Coriolan, Debra Lartique-Piper, Erin Kummerfeldt, Randolph Moore, Kenneth Meeks, Lashana Thomas, Kinglsey Kanu, Aisha Sylvester & Sophia Rose
The Labor Secretary: Alexis Herman
Title: Chair and CEO, New Ventures Inc.
Boards: The Coca-Cola Co., Entergy Inc., and Cummins Inc.
For Alexis Herman, there’s no substitute for board oversight and protocol when it comes to pushing workforce and diversity issues within a company. “You have to be willing to ask the hard questions,” says Herman, who earned a reputation as an effective negotiator as secretary of labor under former President Bill Clinton.
Herman may be new to Coca-Cola’s 12-member board, but she has championed these areas at the soft-drink maker since she chaired its Human Resources Task Force from 2001 to 2006. Herman, who believes boards are becoming more hands on, maintains that a diverse talent pool represents “a large part of any company’s growth structure. The workforce of the future is one of immigrants, women, and people of color. Knowing how to leverage their talents and seeing them as part of the bottom line and part of the business case is what increasingly smart companies are beginning to understand.”
-Carolyn M. Brown
The Power Broker: Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Title: Senior Managing Director, Lazard FrËres & Co.
Boards: American Express Co., Xerox Corp.
This grandson of a sharecropper has bridged the arenas of business, politics, and public service for nearly five decades. In the process, he’s become one of the most sought-after and influential advisers of corporate chiefs, public #servants, and-at one point-the president of the United States.
Jordan joined his first boards in the early 1970s during his stint as executive director of the National Urban League. Since that time, he has served on more than 10 corporate boards, not to mention high-ranking bodies such as the Council on Foreign Relations and The Iraq Study Group. In fact, corporate governance researchers found that Jordan simultaneously sat on more boards than 90% of all corporate directors, rubbing elbows with roughly 100 of them per month. Not one to be relegated to the sidelines as “a special-interest director,” the dynamic power broker always makes sure that he is “where the action is.” He has served on such bodies as the audit and compensation committees. “You want to be on the compensation committee because everything revolves around compensation,” he says. “You’re paying people from the chairman on down.”
Cultivating the success of the world’s most powerful corporations-including the spectacular turnaround of Xerox, which nearly went bankrupt several years ago, and the fortification of American Express, which reeled from staggering financial and human losses after 9-11-requires a combination of loyalty, good judgment, and rhino-tough skin, Jordan maintains. “I think I’ve been in boardrooms all of my life. As a kid in Atlanta, I had on a white coat and tie [serving board members for] my mother’s catering service,” he says. “The boardroom had a different look from the vantage point of a waiter as opposed to the vantage point of a director.” -DTD
The Marketing Maven: Joyce M. RochÈ
Title: President and CEO Girls Inc.
Boards: AT&T Inc., Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., Macy’s Inc.
“Consumer marketing maven” perfectly depicts Girls Inc. President and CEO Joyce M. RochÈ. It was through a search firm specializing in identifying corporate and nonprofit board candidates that RochÈ gained her first directorship at a telecom acquired by SBC Communications. Says RochÈ, who was president and COO of #Carson Products Co. at the time
Throughout her boardroom experience, RochÈ has made some tough calls. She was among the board members that ousted Mays Department Stores’ CEO when the chain was being acquired by Federated. “I was on the subcommittee looking for new candidates to replace the CEO,” says RochÈ. “It was a tumultuous point in time.” -CMB
The Activist:John W. Rogers Jr.
Title: Chairman and CEO, Ariel Capital Management L.L.C.
Boards: McDonald’s Corp., Exelon Corp., Aon Corp.
When John W. Rogers Jr. performs his duties as a corporate director, one of his guides is the copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail that he keeps in his wallet. True to the activist philosophy espoused in that document, the top-ranked money manager asserts: “I’m going to help with the diversity initiatives of the corporate boards I’m on because it is not only the morally right thing to do, but it is also going to enhance the #success of the business.”
That passion led Rogers to co-found the Black Corporate #Directors Conference six years ago and last year’s introduction of the “Corporate Diversity Call To Action,” a charge for black directors to discuss how corporations can increase inclusive practices throughout an organization.
He has also pressed for greater African American #participation in 401(k) plans. “I’m on [McDonald’s] compensation committee, and they talk about benefits,” he says. “As they looked at the data and realized this was an issue, they thought out solutions. The participation of African American managers within the 401(k) plan went from the fiftieth percentile to 90%.” That’s an example of Rogers’ brand of leadership. -DTD
The Public Servant: Franklin A. Thomas
Title: Consultant, The Study Group
Boards: Citigroup Inc., Alcoa Inc.
Franklin Thomas’ board memberships evolved from public service. It was 1967, and the young attorney was tapped to run Bedford Stuyvesant
Restoration Corp., an #organization charged with revitalizing one of Brooklyn, New York’s, deteriorating neighborhoods. This public-private #partnership, which brought together community representatives and the era’s most powerful CEOs, including CBS’ William Paley, IBM’s Thomas Watson, and Citibank’s George Moore, was a #revolutionary concept at the time. Thomas’ dexterity in managing that operation led to his invitation to Citibank’s board in 1970. Close to 40 years later, the bank has grown into the financial leviathan Citigroup. But one thing hasn’t changed: Thomas’ seat in the boardroom.
His sound judgment and mastery of board protocol earned him directorships with CBS, Cummins, and Alcoa. Thomas, who currently serves as a consultant for the Study Group and who is a former president of the Ford Foundation, has witnessed the #evolution of boards from bodies driven primarily by CEO-initiated issues to groups that are involved in more areas of oversight.
Another recent development: an increased emphasis on #public issues, ranging from the environment to community development. “These committees look to the reputation of the organization and its social role as well as its business role, trying to make the case that those are complementary,” he says. “I think the better-run companies and their leadership have made it a point to keep [this] focus, because once you disconnect, you make yourself more vulnerable and don’t attract the same kind of talent.”
Thomas urges board members to travel outside headquarters to satellite locations. “You not only meet the management and workforce in those operations but you meet the leadership from those communities. It’s a way of getting beyond the written text and adding the human dimension to all these things.” -DTD
The Number Cruncher: Christopher Williams
Title: Chairman and CEO, Williams Capital Group L.P.;
Chairman and CEO, Williams Capital Management L.L.C.
Boards: Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Christopher Williams’ financial prowess would make him a valuable director on any board. It was through an investment banking relationship with Wal-Mart stores over the past five years that he gained direct knowledge of the inner workings of the company. “Since Sarbanes-Oxley, the environment has changed. Shareholders are now looking more closely at the culpability of the board,” says Williams, a member of Wal-Mart’s audit committee, the #ultimate watchdog of shareholder value.
Williams was named a Wal-Mart board member at a time when shareholders were calling upon the company to ensure that two-thirds of its board positions were independent directors. “Every board is looking for a diversity of skill sets,” says Williams, who as a minority brings “perspectives and sensitivities that may not have been considered, as well as a broad range of relationships within our community.” -CMB