Companies with Black CEOs
/- Originally published in USA TODAY, March 8, 2005
By Del Jones
James Bell's promotion to CEO makes Boeing the largest U.S. company with an African-American CEO.
Franklin Raines held the distinction until his ouster at Fannie Mae in December in the wake of accounting irregularities. Fannie Mae is No. 20 on the latest Fortune 500, which ranks companies by annual revenue.
Five mega-companies in the top 100 U.S. corporations have African-American CEOs.
At No. 15 Boeing, Bell, 56, is interim CEO and is expected to return as Boeing's chief financial officer once a permanent CEO is named.
Others companies in Fortune's top 100:
* No. 27 Time Warner. Richard Parsons, 57, became CEO in 2002.
* No. 58 Merrill Lynch. Stanley O'Neal, 53, became CEO in 2002.
* No. 67 Kmart. Aylwin Lewis, 50, became CEO in 2004. Kmart is acquiring Sears this month.
* No. 69 American Express. Kenneth Chennault, 52, became CEO in 2001.
Clarence Otis, 48, is CEO of Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant chains.
Other African-American CEOs on Black Enterprise magazine's list of the 75 most powerful African-Americans in corporate America include Alliant's Erroll Davis, Ann Fudge of Young & Rubicam, Absolut Spirits' Carl Horton, Renetta McCann of Starcom Americas, Symantec's John Thompson and Crompton's Bob Wood.
