Black CEOs: A tiny group shrinks more
NEW YORK - It's getting lonelier at the top for black CEOs.
Only four blacks will be left running Fortune 500 companies after Stan O'Neal's abrupt retirement from the top spot at Merrill Lynch & Co. last week and Time Warner Inc. Dick Parsons' announcement Monday that he will retire at the end of the year.
Only four blacks will be left running Fortune 500 companies after Stan O'Neal's abrupt retirement from the top spot at Merrill Lynch & Co. last week and Time Warner Inc. Dick Parsons' announcement Monday that he will retire at the end of the year.
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That leaves Aylwin Lewis at Sears Holding Corp., Kenneth Chenault at American Express Co., Ronald Williams at Aetna Inc. and Clarence Otis at Darden Restaurants Inc. as the only black chief executives among this list of the nation's largest companies.
That leaves Aylwin Lewis at Sears Holding Corp., Kenneth Chenault at American Express Co., Ronald Williams at Aetna Inc. and Clarence Otis at Darden Restaurants Inc. as the only black chief executives among this list of the nation's largest companies.
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To some, the departures of O'Neal and Parsons underscore that all CEOs, whatever their race, have a short shelf life.
To some, the departures of O'Neal and Parsons underscore that all CEOs, whatever their race, have a short shelf life.
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"In the best situations, these are not jobs you hold on to for more than five to seven years," said Alfred Edmond Jr., editor-in-chief of Black Enterprise magazine. "The bulletproof CEOs of the '80s — those days are long gone, even for white men."
"In the best situations, these are not jobs you hold on to for more than five to seven years," said Alfred Edmond Jr., editor-in-chief of Black Enterprise magazine. "The bulletproof CEOs of the '80s — those days are long gone, even for white men."
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Twenty years from now, Edmond predicts, there will be double the number of black CEOs, but that will still bring their total to fewer than a dozen. "The numbers are so small that any improvement will seem like a giant leap forward," he said.
Twenty years from now, Edmond predicts, there will be double the number of black CEOs, but that will still bring their total to fewer than a dozen. "The numbers are so small that any improvement will seem like a giant leap forward," he said.
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On his short list are John Thompson, CEO of Symantec Corp., which is just shy of entering the Fortune 500; Ursula M. Burns, president of Xerox Corp., and Don Thompson, president of McDonald's USA at McDonald's Corp.
On his short list are John Thompson, CEO of Symantec Corp., which is just shy of entering the Fortune 500; Ursula M. Burns, president of Xerox Corp., and Don Thompson, president of McDonald's USA at McDonald's Corp.
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While the numbers now may be dispiriting, "10 or 15 years ago, we couldn't have had this conversation, because there was no one to talk about," Edmond said.
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While the numbers now may be dispiriting, "10 or 15 years ago, we couldn't have had this conversation, because there was no one to talk about," Edmond said.
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