Thursday, June 4, 2009

Black Woman Set to Lead Fortune 500 for the first Time

The stock market talks with money: it tells you what it thinks about corporate decisions by how the stock price moves. If the price goes up, the market likes you. If it goes down, investors are angry. The market likes Ursula Burns. Ursula's appointment as CEO of the Xerox Corporation led to a 2.2% one day increase in the company's stock price and applause from Xerox shareholders around the world. In addition to inspiring the market, Burns has energized an army of black women and men by becoming the first black female to ever take the reigns of a Fortune 500 company.

With the recent announcement that Burns will take over Xerox on July 1, the company has surpassed a milestone for black women that is long overdue. Even without regard to all the Xerox copies that will be made during her time as CEO, Burns will surely be creating copy cats of her own within the black communty. Young women everywhere are inspired by Burns' achievements, and she is now a part of history. But what does the promotion of Burns say about the state of black women in corporate America? Have we hit the finish line?

"This occassion is unequivocally, a cause for celebration," says Dr. Kendra Harris, Assistant Professor of Marketing at North Carolina Central University. "That said, this kind of 'first' nearly a decade into the 21st century is a sad testimony to systemic lack of awareness of the talent among the ranks of minority women."

Continue reading Dr Boyce Money: First Black Female to Run Fortune 500 Company

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