Description: CARL BROOKS TO DISCUSS CRITICAL NEED FOR MORE MINORITY CORPORATE LEADERS Contact: Mark Schoeff Jr. (202-662-7218, mschoeff@workforce.com), chair, NPC Newsmakers Committee
Carl Brooks, president and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, the leading organization for the most senior level African-American executives in corporate America, will discuss the results of two recent surveys commissioned by the organization on the views of senior corporate executives towards African-Americans in the C-Suite and their experiences there at a National Press Club Newsmaker press conference at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in the Lisagor Room, 13th floor, 529 14th St.
NW, Washington, D.C.
Conducted by Harris Interactive, a poll of 150 executives from a broad range of industries, services and locales, was taken between November 4 and December 2, 2008. The findings make the business case for the increased relevance of minorities in executive leadership roles.
Seventy-five percent of corporate executives believe that having minorities in senior executive positions is particularly important to providing new ideas and innovation and to better reflect the diversity of customers.
The poll, conducted immediately following the election of Barack Obama as president, occurred at a time when there was increased discussion of how his election would impact opportunities for minorities seeking to move into the C-Suite and on to corporate boards.
Brooks will also discuss the serious challenges faced by African American women in particular as they climb the corporate ladder. Those challenges were the focus of a year-long study by the Executive Leadership Council, completed in spring 2008, the Black Women Executives Research Initiative. The study examined the success factors and impediments for black women executives aspiring to the most senior positions in America's top companies.
The Executive Leadership Council is an independent, non-profit
501(c)(6) corporation, founded in 1986 to provide African-American executives of major U.S. companies with a professional network and forum to offer perspective and direction on national and international business and public policy issues. It is the preeminent organization for African-American corporate business leaders. Council members--more than 400 executives, one-third of them women--represent more than 280 Fortune 500 corporations.
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Location: Lisagor Room
