Amex Retirement Shines Light on Lack of Diversity in CEO Ranks
October 18 2017 - 7:53PM
Dow Jones News
By John Simons
And then there were three. Kenneth Chenault's retirement from
the chief executive post at American Express Co. will reduce the
number of African-American CEOs of Fortune 500 companies by a
quarter.
The sunsetting of Mr. Chenault's career occurs as many large
companies are showing great concern for diversity. But even as top
executives and boards devote more time and resources to improving
ethnic and gender representation in their ranks, the number of
black CEOs has remained relatively stagnant over the past few
decades.
Mr. Chenault, who announced Wednesday that he will step down as
Amex's chief in February, is joined by Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. at
TIAA-CREF (now TIAA), Kenneth C. Frazier of Merck & Co. Inc.
and J.C. Penney's Marvin R. Ellison among current serving leaders
at Fortune 500 businesses.
Mr. Chenault's rise to the top slot at Amex in 2001 coincided
with a relative surge in the number of prominent black CEOs. In
1999, Fannie Mae appointed Franklin Raines as its CEO. That same
year, Maytag named Lloyd Ward chief executive.
Richard Zweigenhaft, a professor of psychology at Guilford
College in Greensboro, N.C., who studies ethnicity and social
mobility says the period is an example of "one of the ironies of
diversity."
"The corporate elite had shown that it valued diversity. Once
barriers were broken, the presence of some had decreased the
pressure to increase the numbers [of top-level black executives],"
says Mr. Zweigenhaft, who is co-author of the book "Diversity in
the Power Elite."
The number of African-American CEOs is so thin because, while
companies have generally fine-tuned recruiting and hiring efforts
to ensure that they are surveying a broader array of top talent,
companies are failing to properly groom talented black executives,
says Nick Cianciola, founder of the executive search firm Weston
Associates, who focuses on helping companies diversify their
executive ranks.
"Intentions are very strong and corporations are saying all the
right things, he says. "Part of the problem is a lack of good
succession planning to groom African-Americans to get to the top.
The executives aren't getting the entire picture they need to see
to get to the top," says Mr. Cianciola who is now a partner and
principal with Shields Meneley Partners.
Write to John Simons at John.Simons@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 18, 2017 19:38 ET (23:38 GMT)
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