The BV Insider: Blacks in Corporate America
By Frank McCoy, AOL BlackVoices columnist
When I was a kid, my dad's cousin Almeda, a Harlemite born in the 19th century, visited us in Boston rarely but memorably. Whenever she heard someone speak about an unfamiliar African-American man doing well in the white world, she always asked "Is he colored?"
At the time, only a few Negroes -- soon to be blacks -- had elective power leading ebony wiseacres to quip, "White folks may let us run the city but they'll never let us control the money."
But, last year, in what would have been an astonishing series of events to my dads cousin, African-American executives and professionals (some you've never heard of and others you should know) made decisions that affected "the money" in major ways. The men and women described below had an impact that still resonates in Iraq, at major companies, on Fifth Avenue and in your living room.
It once appeared easy to underestimate Richard D. Parsons, the CEO of Time Warner, the world's largest media and entertainment firm. But by the end of 2004, he had cleaned up TW's financials, begun settling a federal accounting probe, and took the company's stock north. While it's impossible to see how far Time Warner -- the parent company of America Online and by extension AOL BlackVoices -- will climb, be sure that Parsons is the person who leads the way.
In Washington, two African-American men saw mortgage giant Fannie Mae quite differently. Now, they are both gone from the company. One, Franklin D. Raines, the firm's CEO, has a resume so full of the right schools and jobs -- including director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration -- that some cast him as future U.S. Treasury Secretary. Instead Raines, 55, left FM espousing his innocence after the Securities and Exchange Commission said the firm cooked its books. But don't worry, Raines took with him a pension of more than a million dollars a year.
The man who shook Fannie Mae actually left earlier than Raines. It was the fact finding of Roger Barnes, 48, an ex-FM accounting manager, that rocked Raines' world. Barnes says he first alerted managers in 1999 about problems at the company and told internal auditors four years later. Then late last year, the SEC charged that FM violated accounting standards and misstated its earnings by billions. Barnes stands by his assertions.
There are no timid whistleblowers. Just ask Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse. The top contracting specialist for the Army Corps of Engineers asked, her superiors, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on-the-record questions about how and why a Halliburton subsidiary should get $7 billion to restore Iraq's oil facilities. She also asked how the Houston firm seemed to know about the contract's terms prior to their release, why the contract was for five years instead of one, and why there wasn't a competitive bidding process. And when she was asked to sign off on the deal, which had been approved above her and did not address her queries, she wrote a critique. In a hierarchical organization like the U.S. Army, that's bold.
Do you think it is easy to defend a major corporation when something goes terribly wrong? Kenneth C. Frazier, 49, Merck & Co.'s senior vice president, knows it isn't. As Merck’s chief counsel since 1999, he stands between the firm and an $18 billion tsunami of lawsuits levied against it since a study said Vioxx, a Merck painkiller, increased stroke and heart attack risk. But the North Philly native is not litigation shy. He has been to the battlements for Merck and for other corporations when he was in private practice. He also once won a pro bono case that freed an unjustly convicted African-American man from Alabama's death row.
The next time you print something on a Xerox color machine, think of Ursula M. Burns. She's president of Business Group Operations at Xerox Corp. and presides over a $12 billion organization. She is also a gambler, who last year wagered that Xerox's leased color office printers can innovate in ways that will increase sales and lower expenses, keeping it ahead of Asian competitors in the $7 billion market.
Also, in 2004, Aylwin Lewis, 50, got a call to become Kmart's new president and CEO after the firm had emerged from bankruptcy and had posted four straight profitable quarters. Kmart chairman Edward Lampert said he saw Lewis, then president and COO of Yum Brands!, (which manages Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC and other restaurants) as a savvy, veteran marketer who understands brands and can boost sales.
In 2004, one African American changed the complexion of American television. That was Alfred C. Liggins III, the 40-year-old CEO of Radio One Inc., the nation's seventh largest radio company and the largest black-owned media company with 69 stations. He scored two coups. In addition to signing a joint venture with Comcast that resulted in the launch of TV One, the only national black-owned cable channel for African Americans, he bought the 'Tom Joyner Morning Show.' The radio show has 8 million black listeners, a whopping addition to Radio One's existing 14 million listeners.
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs also provided big splashes. The multitalented entertainment mogul opened a Sean Jean store on Fifth Avenue and won a national design award for his clothing line, which had annual retail sales of more than $450 million.
All of which would have delighted my great-cousin Almeda and perhaps inspired her to ask, "You mean they are all colored?"
Yes, dear, they are.
About the Author
Frank McCoy is a freelance business writer living in the Washington area.
Feb. 21, 2005