All Articles Tagged "black ceos"
CEO Gives Up Corner Office for the Lobby
(Rolling Out) – Maze Jackson, the business man owns the 15-year-old Universal Maz Jac Inc., a full service urban advertising marketing promotions agency. Maze Jackson the hired gun is a contract lobbyist for the Roosevelt Group. “I’m very proud of that company,” Jackson tellsrolling out during a recent visit.“We still do a lot of business. Msister is taking over the day-to-day operations, as I’m able to get further into politics which is my truest love.” In his role as contract lobbyist, Jackson has found the loophole that very few African Americans of his generation know of: as a lobbyist, he has the negotiation power of the politician, with the profit margin of a successful businessman – and all without the sacrifice of media scrutiny. Here, Jackson reveals a day in the life of a young black lobbyist.
Empowerment Coach Heads to Nigeria
(BusinessDay) — Ever wondered what it takes to be beautiful, industrious, witty, besides being an author and entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in sales, marketing and operations management? Well, wonder no more because Anna McCoy personifies all that and more. She is the Chief Encouragement Officer of Act Now, Inc., a personal development and success training organisation, and founder of Woman Act Now, an online and chapter-based membership organisation dedicated to empowering women to dream, execute and connect with other like-minded women to achieve their goals in the now. Anna and her husband Richmond McCoy are founding partners of UrbanAmerica, a $520 million, private real estate fund which purchases and revitalises inner–city commercial properties. And PS: She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Saint Thomas Christian College.
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Black Man Could Be Next to Head IBM
(Fins) — Rodney C. Adkins oversees 50,000 employees and is responsible for $18 billion in revenue as senior vice president and group executive for systems and technology at IBM, one of the world’s largest and most durable technology companies. Adkins, 52, also is one of the most powerful African-Americans in high tech. Until Adkins succeeded his boss, Robert Moffat, after his arrestin relation to the 2009 Galleon insider trading case, most people had never heard of him. The IBM-lifer got the job on an interim basis, with the promotion made permanent less than two weeks later. Adkins is considered one of three candidates to succeed Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano, 60, when he retires.
Alicia Keys' Manager on the Changing Face of Music Business
(Black Enterprise) — Contrary to belief, Jeff Robinson is not some new jack in the biz. Back in the day, Robinson got his feet wet on the front lines of MCA’s legendary Uptown Records helping to usher in an era of New Jack Swing artists, including Guy. Fast-forward years later, and the CEO and president of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Entertainment is responsible for the illustrious career of one of music’s elite and award-winning vocal powerhouses, Alicia Keys, an artist who has since expanded her brand to include acting, directing and other ventures. As part of our continuing coverage of the business of music for Black Music Month, BlackEnterprise.com tapped into JR’s mind about the perils of the artist 360 deals, what every aspiring artists needs to know before signing on the dotted line and the future of the music biz.
As the mastermind behind Alicia Keys, you’re very much a behind-the-scenes label executive. Why?
(Laughs) Yes, I’m old school in that I’m all about pushing the artist. I am her manager, and she’s also signed to my label MBK [My Brother’s Keeper] Entertainment, which people often forget.
Maryland Man On Quest to McDominate
By Ashley Bernard
After over 15 years with the company, McDonald’s franchisee, Isaac Green, say 8 stores isn’t enough. He wants 30.
Green, 47, started off as a crew worker and made his way through the ranks. He has been store manager and held human resource positions, but in the early 2000s, Green decided to go a step further and try his hand at franchising. By 2002 he owned six locations in Maryland. Still, Green is working towards more. He plans to own 15 eateries within two years and have 30 within the next five.
“I get offended when people look at McDonald’s and say it’s a dead-end job, because it’s not,” he told Gazette.net “In what other industry can you start out as a crew member making $2.95 an hour and later become a franchise owner managing a $5.7 million payroll?”
Green’s 8 locations, four in Prince George’s County, one at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, and three in Virginia earn $21 million in total annual sales. Though he is proud of his success, Green works to encourage all 450 of his employees and his community. “I want them to be able to look at these stores and say, ‘You know what? That’s an African-American male that owns that restaurant. Maybe I can do that too,’” Green said.
McDonald’s is known for establishing a good system in minority staffing. They also have programs such as LAMP program (Leadership at McDonald’s program), that help managers enhance skills and exposure even outside the McDonald’s work environment. McDonald’s also compels franchisees to take interest in their communities, which Green has done, often donating a portion of his profits to nonprofit events and programs.
“What I love about being a franchise owner is the ability to help folks. As a franchiser, you have to follow the playbook, but you can also change the plays, you can localize them for each community,” he said.
Wonya Lucas Named to Top Seat at TV One
(News One) — With the recent retirement of former TV One President and CEO Johnathan Rodgers, the network didn’t take long to find a replacement in the accomplished Wonya Lucas. Lucas, who comes to TV One from Discovery where she was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is tasked with continuing the run of success the network has had in the last seven years. “Wonya Lucas is the perfect choice to help us build on the terrific success we have achieved at TV One over the past seven years,” said TV One Chairman and Radio One President and CEO Alfred Liggins.
One Man's Journey from the Streets to Million Dollar Success
(Black Enterprise) — At first glance, this self-made brother’s rags-to-riches story may remind you of Tyler Perry’s. An Internet marketing rock star, who provides motivational and business-building advice to CEOs, start-ups and mom-and-pop-style businesses, Stephen Pierce went from being broke and homeless on the streets of Washington, D.C., to a multimillionaire living in a 12,000-foot mansion inside a gated community on 4.3 acres in Texas. A former gang member and drug dealer who once got shot during a deal gone wrong, Pierce, who will host a business coaching session on “7 Steps to Creating Your Own Money Making Machine” at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference in Atlanta this weekend, says it was his experience with some of life’s greatest lows: going bankrupt, being kicked out of high school–even struggling with thoughts of suicide and homicide–that helped him draw the connection between thoughts and actions.
Casino Mogul Don Barden Dies
(Detroit Free Press) — Whatever troubles beset his later years, Don Barden’s place in business history is firmly rooted in two unassailable accomplishments: He was the first African American to own a Las Vegas casino and the first to own a major cable TV franchise. Those were milestones in a career that saw Barden rise from humble beginnings to control an empire worth more than $400 million in annual revenues. All the while, he inspired others to believe in themselves and work for their dreams. Barden died Thursday morning at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. He was 67 and had been fighting lung cancer. Bob Warfield, a close friend and president and CEO of institutional investment firm Alpha Partners, recalled Thursday that Barden “always had a warm greeting with a big cigar hanging from his mouth. He always had a hug, more than a handshake.”
Grab Networks CEO Alvin Bowles on Inspiration
(Washington Post) — Raised in Michigan with an interest in business, Alvin Bowles decided against taking the obvious course and going to work for one of the Big Three carmakers. Instead he set his sights on Wall Street. After a couple years, sensing the markets headed toward digital media, he eventually found himself developing creative digital marketing solutions for AOL Time Warner and now leading a company he says is “well positioned for significant geometric growth.”
Where do you draw the most inspiration for your creativity? Curiosity. My curiosity about problem-solving fuels my creativity. I’m never satisfied. Not that I’m never happy but I’m always interested in what the next thing is.
Top Pharma CEO Gambles on Research
(Businessweek) — In early January, not two weeks into his job as chief executive officer of Merck (MRK), Kenneth C. Frazier got word that a safety panel had shut down a nearly completed 13,000-patient study of an experimental drug. It was vorapaxar, a blood thinner touted as the prize jewel in Merck’s pipeline. Some analysts had predicted sales could reach $5 billion a year. Despite the setback, the litigator, 56, with just three years of operational experience at Merck, announced on Feb. 3 that the company was doubling down on new-drug development and plans to spend as much as $8.5 billion on research in 2011. That hefty sum vaults Merck to the top ranks of research spending worldwide, neck-and-neck with longtime leaders Pfizer (PFE), the world’s biggest drugmaker, and software giant Microsoft (MSFT). Stumbles like vorapaxar are, in Frazier’s view, the price of doing business in the drug industry. “Scientific innovation is hard, it’s complex, it’s risky, it’s uncertain as to timing,” he says. “At the same time, we have huge opportunities. That’s the way a company like Merck needs to exist in the world.”
