There are only four black Fortune 500 CEOs. Here they are.

Advertisement
There are only four black Fortune 500 CEOs. Here they are.
black ceo fortune 500 2x1

There are only four black CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, and none of them are women.

Advertisement

In fact, only two black women have ever led a Fortune 500 company. The first was Ursula Burns, who served as CEO of Xerox from 2009 until 2016, and as chairwoman from 2010 to 2017. Her initial appointment was more than years after the first Fortune 500 list.

The second black woman on the list was Mary Winston who, in May 2019, became the interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond. She only held the position until November of that year, when she was replaced by Mark Tritton, a white man.

The four black men currently leading Fortune 500 companies are Kenneth Frazier of pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Marvin Ellison of home improvement retailer Lowe's, Jide Zeitlin of fashion holding company Tapestry, and Roger Ferguson, Jr. of insurance company TIAA. This number is down from seven, reported less than a decade earlier.

The Center for Talent Innovation's "Being Black in Corporate America" report, released in late 2018, found that black people account for only 3.2% of senior leadership roles at large corporations, and hold just 0.8% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. The study also found an overall lack of mentorship and access to senior leaders.

Advertisement

Keep scrolling to learn about the four black people currently at the top of the corporate ranks, ascending from the year in which they were appointed.

{{}}

Roger Ferguson Jr.

Roger Ferguson Jr.

Company: TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America).

Year appointed: 2008

Before joining TIAA in April 2008, Ferguson was head of Swiss Re, an insurance company. From 1984 to 1997, he was also an Associate and Partner at the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey. Ferguson was also previously vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System.

Source: TIAA

Kenneth Frazier

Kenneth Frazier

Company: Merck & Co., a pharmaceutical company

Year appointed: 2011

Frazier joined Merck & Co. in 1992, and various positions, including general counsel and president. Before joining the company, he had been a partner with Drinker Biddle & Reath, a Philadelphia-based law firm.

Source: Merck

Advertisement

Marvin Ellison

Marvin Ellison

Company: Lowe's, a retail home improvement store

Year appointed: 2018

As Áine Cain of Business Insider previously reported, Ellison started his career as a part-time security guard at a Target in Memphis, earning $4.35 an hour. He spent 15 years rising through the ranks, and moved to Home Depot in 2002, ultimately being promoted to executive vice president of US stores in 2008. He held that position until until he became the CEO of JC Penney in 2015. In 2018, he became CEO of Lowe's.

Source: Business Insider

Jide Zeitlin

Jide Zeitlin

Company: Tapestry, a luxury fashion holding company that is also the parent company of Coach New York, Kate Spade New York and Stuart Weitzman.

Year appointed: 2019

Zeitlin is also the founder of private investment firm Keffi Group, which he founded in 2006. Before that, he spent 20 years working at Goldman Sachs, where he held various positions, including global chief operating officer of the investment banking businesses. In 2006, Zeitlin was elected to Tapestry's board of directors, and he has been chairman of the board since 2014.

Source: Tapestry

Advertisement