New Xerox leader marks a milestone for diversity

WHEN URSULA Burns takes the helm of Xerox on July 1st, she will be the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company in the US. While this marks a milestone, it also highlights how few African-Americans hold executive positions in corporate America.

In spite of the much-lauded election of Barack Obama, the first black president, Ms Burns joins just a handful of African-American chief executives of big companies, including Ken Chenault at American Express, Ron Williams at Aetna, the health insurance company, and Roger Ferguson at TIAA-Cref, the asset management firm. Blacks represent 13 per cent of the population in the US, but hold less than 7 per cent of managerial positions, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Their representation on the boards and management of large companies increased rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s, but this trend stalled around 2000.

This is in spite of a vast array of corporate programmes aimed at boosting diversity, and a general consensus in business that diversity at the top is desirable.

Mellody Hobson is president of Ariel Investments, one of a few minority-owned money management firms, and a prominent African-American executive.

“It is something we are very concerned about and talking about a lot to make sure progress doesn’t get stalled,” she says. “There are lots of conversations about the pipeline of people. Why aren’t there more people ready to go?”

Last year, there were 278 black directors sitting on Fortune 500 company boards, an increase from 255 in 2004. However, they collectively held fewer board seats – 413 compared with 449 in 2004, according to a report by the Executive Leadership Council, a group that works to develop black leadership in the US.

Ms Hobson sits on the boards of Starbucks, Dreamworks and Estée Lauder. She is also involved in the Black Corporate Directors’ Conference, an annual event that encourages black leadership.

The conference was partly conceived by her boss, John Rogers, who founded Ariel. He is also one of the few corporate leaders who regularly speaks publicly on racism in corporate America, bluntly stating that it is a problem.

However, he believes Mr Obama’s election will herald a shift. “I’m hopeful and optimistic that his leadership role will encourage companies to do the right thing,” he says.

Representation of black women is particularly low. Even as they have been graduating from college in higher numbers than ever, they hold only 1 per cent of corporate management jobs. Ms Burns (50) would hardly have appeared groomed for executive success. She was raised by a single mother in New York city, who made ends meet by taking in ironing and running a daycare centre at home. Ms Burns joined Xerox in 1981 and was identified as senior executive material early on. She also joined a company that had a strong commitment to diversity. A third of Xerox’s management team are female, and a fifth are members of minority groups. – (Copyright Financial Times Ltd 2009)