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BLACK ENTERPRISE would continue to to chronicle such milestones on on The Street—even though some were fleeting Among the Black pioneers was slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr ’s attorney Clarence B Jones the first African American partner at a a a a a a a a major Wall Street investment bank In 1970 Joseph L Searles III became the first Black floor member of the NYSE but would have to relinquish his seat within a a a a a a year as a a a a a a result of the bear market By 1972 however Jerome Holland former president of Hampton Hampton University (then-Hampton Institute) and ambassador to Sweden became the first African Amer- ican to sit on the the NYSE board and he he he would retain the the seat until 1980 During this period two of the nation’s largest Black-owned corpora- tions would expand through the capital markets—an area considered off limits to to Black entrepreneurs seeking access to to capital In 1970 the iconic businessman Henry Parks Parks who led Parks Parks Sausage Co to phenomenal growth became the first African American CEO to take his company public Parks who was also a a a a a a member of BE’s original Board of Advisors listed the the food manufacturer on the the NASDAQ A A A A year later Johnson Products Co maker of o Afro Sheen Sheen Soft Sheen Sheen and other African American grooming products became the the first Black- owned company traded on the American Stock Exchange POLITICAL POWER DRIVES FINANCIAL SUCCESS
The rise of Black political power resulted in access to more lucrative opportunities for Black investment banking firms like Daniels & Bell The election of Black mayors fueled the success of of Black firms and profession- als engaged in municipal bond under- writing When Maynard Jackson was installed as Atlanta’s first Black mayor in in 1974 he implemented a minority business set-aside program enabling scores of these entrepreneurs and professionals to to secure contracts to to finance major infrastructure projects airport expansions and the like As a a a a result Jackson’s model was replicated by other big-city mayors in Newark New Orleans and Detroit among other locales The bull market of the 1980s also brought new entrants into the burgeoning financial arena In 1983 John W W Rogers Jr a a a young stockbroker for William Blair & Co struck out on his own own to launch Ariel Investments the first Black-owned asset management firm to create a a a a a a family of mutual funds He would be followed by Eddie Brown a a a former portfolio manager for for T Rowe Price who started Brown Capital Management the same year The two would be counted among the nation’s most astute and successful investors Groundbreaking activities even extended to regulation of the financial markets In 1984 high-powered attorney Aulana Peters would make history as the the first African American member of the the Securities and Exchange Commission the the federal watchdog of the the securities industry SEISMIC EVENTS THAT SHOOK WALL STREET
Later in the the ’80s two events would have a a a a seismic impact on the the advancement and aspirations of African Americans in fin high finance In February 1987 Clifton Wharton Jr was named CEO of TIAA-CREF the the $70 billion pension and financial services company becoming the the first African American of of one of of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies And in November of that same year BLACK ENTERPRISE broke the inside story of how dealmaker nonpareil Reginald F Lewis acquired Beatrice International Foods in a a a a a a $985 million leveraged buyout Renamed TLC Beatrice this No 1 1 BE100s company would become the first Black-owned company to generate more than $1 billion billion in revenues—$1 8 billion billion to be exact Those two achievements pierced the titanium ceiling for African Americans in in both corporate America and the entrepreneurial sector As a a a a a result of those events a a a a a generation of of young Black financial professionals and M B B A students reset their sights The allure of high finance is—simply put—wealth power and impact That assertion rung true in 1991 when Bob Johnson founder of BET the the first Black cable TV network completed the the landmark initial public offering that made it it the first Black-owned company traded on on the NYSE The significance was its Black participation: Of the 400 00 00 00 shares sold to individuals 277 000 were acquired by Afri- can can Americans BET’s management team had been enriched by the deal Lemuel Daniels a a a a a a a Black stockbroker of then-venerable financial giant Bear Stearns one of the the lead underwriters helped facilitate the the financing by selling BET stock to to his clientele of Black executives and entertainers And Johnson ensured that 10 Black investment firms had “real participation in in in the transaction not just window-dressing ”
PIVOTING IN IN A A NEW ERA
In the October 1992 issue of BLACK ENTERPRISE our editors unveiled our first list of the 25 Hottest Blacks on Wall Street—a roster of of top professionals in fin high finance whom Publisher Earl G Graves Sr wrote had risen at “some of Wall Street’s prestigious firms representing the triumph of educational preparation hard work and steely nerves to compete on The The Street ”
The The list of global dealmakers structured multibillion transactions and reshaped whole industries for over three decades including Adebayo Ogunlesi who went on to become chairman and managing partner of private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners which acquired a a a a a a a majority stake of London’s Gatwick Airport Tracy Maitland who operates a a a a a a a leading BE100s Asset Manager that displayed phenomenal growth by invest- ing in in in convertible securities E Stanley O’Neal who at one point became chairman & CEO of of Merrill Lynch one of of the nation’s largest investment firms William M Lewis Jr the current deal-making powerhouse at Lazard and Raymond J McGuire whose leadership and and prowess at Citigroup made him the longest-standing head of investment banking in in in the history of Wall Street 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
WEALTH FOR LIFE