Women at the top: Black female executives are making their mark at Fortune 500 companies

THERE'S a saying that if you want a job done right, call in a woman. Make her an African-American woman and watch the company's stock increase.

While some of corporate America has suffered from employee downsizing and high-level corruption, African-American women in executive-level positions are proving to be invaluable assets to several Fortune 500 companies.

Overall there are few Black women in boardrooms and one report on women in executive positions showed that Black women represented only 1.6 percent (out of 15.7 percent) of women in key positions at large corporations.

That's not the case at McDonald's Corporation, which acknowledges the leadership effectiveness of its Black female corporate staff. The next time you drive into a McDonald's restaurant, ponder this along with the menu: McDonald's Corporation has more than 30 African-American female executives in key operational and business functions.

Shirley Rogers-Reece, vice president, worldwide training, learning and development, has been with McDonald's for 24 years. She oversees a staff of 35 people and says that the company focuses on helping to develop people inside the organization in order to drive diversity. Being an executive with McDonald's puts her in an important position regarding employee career mobility within the company. "We have never been in a position to be able to look at our folk and see what they need and who needs help in order to advance," she says.

One employee who has successfully moved through the ranks is Debbie Roberts, who started working with McDonald's accounting division and later moved to marketing. Today she is vice president of operations.

"I'm in that group of people who have been given the opportunity to move through the organization," says Roberts. "I don't know many companies that allow you to do that."

Climbing the proverbial corporate ladder is no easy feat, especially for African-American women. The politics of corporate America is something that most female executives are familiar with--especially at companies where racism, sexism and the good old-boy network still exist. From a business perspective, having a diverse executive staff that can effectively implement major decisions is necessary to reach a widening consumer base.

"I'm inspired to see so many other female executives," says Edie Waddell, who is McDonald's vice president of U.S. operations and a 30-year veteran of the popular fast-food service giant. Her job includes developing strategies for deploying new products and initiatives to more than 13,700 restaurants around the country. "We are mentors to many women on how to advance through the ranks and avoid political landmines," says Waddell. "I've got all my legs and limbs because someone helped me."

Aflac, a leading provider of volunteer insurance based in Columbus, Ga., has been listed by one publication as one of the best places for minorities to work. The company insures 40 million people worldwide and has 11 African-American female executives on staff. The Aflac Diversity Council was established in 2001 to develop, support and implement diversity-related initiatives.

"Part of the company's core philosophy is to increase the diversity opportunities of our entire workforce," says Mechell Clark, who leads Aflac's media relations team. "The company is concerned about multicultural opportunity in the workplace to better reflect our client base."

Companies can reach a broader consumer base because of the talents that women executives bring to the table. Anne Sempowski Ward is one of a number of Black female executives at Procter & Gamble. Ward is marketing director of P&G's multicultural business development organization and leads all of the company's African-American marketing efforts. Part of her job focuses on targeting diverse audiences for beauty and household brands and finding new ways to reach a multicultural market.

Says Ward, who joined Procter & Gamble 12 years ago: "Given the important demographic trends and underrepresentation of African-American faces in 'mainstream' beauty, I expect more companies to attempt to better reach us as African-American women. And what better way to do that than to bring a Black woman in to help guide a company in the right direction, given we live as Black women every day."

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning