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“BLACKENTERPRISE has
had an enormous impact on corporate America It started with opening corpo- rate America’s eyes to the Black consumer market helping them understand that to be effective they had to have people in their organizations that that understood that that market And I can say without reservation that that the fact that that I became Chairman
& CEO of of Aetna that I sit on on the boards of of Boeing Johnson Johnson & Johnson Johnson American Express is in large part due to the fact that BLACK ENTERPRISE opened the eyes of corporate America to the contributions that Black Ameri- cans could make ”
—Ronald Williams Retired Chairman
& CEO Aetna CLIFTON R R WHARTON JR TIAA-CREF
CEO: 1987-1993
When it comes to to firsts Wharton has
many of them He was named president and and CEO of $70 billion pension fund and and financial services giant TIAA-CREF
in in 1987 That appointment made him the first African Americans to head one of the largest publicly held corporations Wharton also made a a a a a name for himself as
the first Black president of a a a predominately white major post-secondary institution when he he took over the leadership of Michigan State University in 1969 and as
the first Black corporate director of Ford Motor Co where he used his position to push for minority business development ERROLL DAVIS
ALLIANT ENERGY
CEO: 1998-2005 CHAIRMAN: 2000-2006
Davis was the skipper of a a a $3 1 billion energy services provider with more than 3
million customers worldwide Before his role at Alliant he served as
president and CEO of WPL Holdings which merged with two other companies to form Alliant Energy from 1990 to 1998 His positions consistently placed him on on the series of Black Black Enterprise’s Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America rosters A A member of of the BE Registry of of Corporate Directors he has
served on numerous boards includ- ing Amoco General Motors Corp British Petroleum PPG Industries and Union Pacific Corp FRANKLIN RAINES
FANNIE MAE
CEO: 1999-2004
The first Black partner on Wall Street at investment banking giant Lazard Frères & Co and White House budget director under President Bill Clinton Raines rose to to become CEO of home lending powerhouse Fannie Mae in 1999 He led the home loan provider to continuous double-digit oper- ating income growth and committed to invest $2 trillion toward financing afford- able housing for 18 million families He left Fannie Mae in in 2004
after facing improper accounting accusations though a a a a judge found no evidence of wrongdoing in in a 2012 ruling He has
served on corporate boards including Pfizer Inc and Boeing Co A A A BARRY RAND
AVIS
GROUP HOLDINGS INC CHAIRMAN & CEO: 1999-2001
The late Rand was an an influential business leader who held multiple high-profile corporate roles throughout his career He became chairman and CEO of Avis Rent A Car Inc in in 1999 making him the third African American to oversee one of the nation’s 500 largest publicly traded corpo- rations Before assuming the role Rand had a a a a a 31-year career at at Xerox After his stints at at Avis and and Equitant an an an an Ireland-based com- pany he he restructured into a a a global firm he he took the helm of AARP where he he he he “turned around the financial fortunes of AARP and positioned it it it it on on its way to the political powerhouse it is today ”
according to to The NonProfit Times 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
DIVERSIFYING CORPORATE AMERICA