Former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns became the first in 2007 before retiring in 2017. Mary Winston, CEO of Ex-Bed, Bath and Beyond, took just six months in 2019 before being replaced by Mark’s former chief trading officer, Mark Tritton.
Today, there are only four total African Americans actively serving as CEOs of Fortune 500, including Brewer. Kenneth Frazier has been Merck’s head since 2011. There are also Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe, and Roger Ferguson Jr., CEO of TIAA-CREF, who are retiring. JPMorgan Chase CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, a black woman, will replace Ferguson on May 1st.
Duckett and Brewer are one of the meager 3.3% of black senior and executive leaders currently working in the U.S. business world, according to data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
According to Michael C. Hyter, President and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, a new black female CEO is a game changer for black leaders and the business world, a nonprofit that is increasing the number of Black C suites. board members managers.
“Diversity at the top drives diversity across the enterprise,” Hyter told CNN Business over the weekend. “There is a tendency among CEOs to take care of senior executives who look like themselves, requiring deliberate efforts to sow succession plans with more diverse candidates with proven records.”
Who’s Rosalind Brewer?
Brewer, 59, is the youngest of five children born to George Motors factory workers George and Sally Gates in her hometown of Detroit in 1962. She grew up in Motor City before attending Spelman College – one of the nation’s leading historic black colleges and universities in the country. – in Atlanta, where she obtained a BSc in chemistry in 1984.
The married mother of two also attended the advanced management program at Wharton School of Business University in Pennsylvania and earned additional degrees from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Stanford Law School’s Directors’ College.
She worked at a paper manufacturer for 22 years Kimberly-Clark (KMB) where she started as a research technician and later held an administrative role. In Kimberly, she developed a strong understanding of consumer-packaged goods and eventually became the president of manufacturing and global operations.
In 2006 Brewer leaves Kimberly-Clark to become Vice President Walmart (WMT), where she climbed the corporate ladder again over the course of six years. Eventually, she is named president of the Walmart Business Unit in the U.S. East, which leads a team responsible for more than $ 100 billion in annual revenue.
Sam’s Club’s historian
Brewer made history in 2012 when she was appointed CEO of Sam’s Club, which is owned by Walmart, and became the first woman and the first African-American ever to lead the only warehouse business.
“I was also struck by Roz’s serving leadership when I visited her stores,” Mike Walke, former president and CEO of Walmart, said of Brewer at the time. “She always lets her team lead the conversation, focusing on how they can better support their needs. … She has strong strategic, analytical and operational skills and has successfully managed a large and complex business.”
Starbucks’ ‘glass ceiling layer’
In 2017, Starbucks leveraged Brewer to become its group president and chief operating officer, leading the company’s global functions for marketing, technology, supply chain, product innovation and store development. During her tenure in 2018, the coffee maker expanded its global retail footprint and entered into a global agreement with Nestle to expand the global reach of consumer packaging.
Brewer has also helped Starbucks maximize its online retail and marketing efforts, as well as its customer experiences. The company expanded its delivery service in China and other countries in East Asia in 2018 and opened its 30,000th global store in March 2019.
Starbucks’ hard digital hub came in handy in 2020, when Covid-19 forced it to close hundreds of stores and move on to a pick-up strategy.
Champion of diversity
Throughout her career, Brewer has also been an unapologetic campaigner for diversity in the corporate world. In 2015, she took heat online
conservatives following an interview with CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, after she told a story about the concerns she’s experiencing when a Sam’s Club supplier sent a group of white men to meet her.
She was concerned that supplier’s commitment to diversity did not suit her own, which is why she called one of the company’s leaders to address the issue.
“You have to shake your partner every now and then,” Brewer said during the interview. “You have to speak and speak. And I’m trying to use my platform for that. ‘
The details of the conversation were not disclosed during the interview, which drew conservatives on Twitter. Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon has defended Brewer against critics who have suggested her comments are racist in some way.
“Roz has simply tried to reiterate that we believe diverse and inclusive teams offer a stronger business,” McMillon wrote in a statement. “That’s all there is and I support the important ideal.”
Why Walgreens?
In addition to overseeing Walgreens’ vaccine deployment, which is already in high gear, Brewer is expected to drive the digital expansion of retail.
“This is clearly one area of expertise where she needs to bring specific institutional knowledge that needs to be useful,” said Michael Cherny, an analyst in healthcare technology and distribution at Bank of America.
The outgoing CEO of Walgreens, Steffano Pessina, had high praise for Brewer’s focus on customer experience and her e-commerce prowess in January when her impending appointment was announced.
“Her relentless focus on customer, talent development, operational accuracy and strong expertise in digital and technological transformation is exactly what [Walgreens] needs as the company enters its next chapter, ”said Pessina.
