He was also a part of the founding of the more radical W.E.B. He attended the founding meeting of the National Negro Business League, convened by Booker T. Alonzo Herndon straddled multiple political perspectives during his ascension. his life insurance policy.Īnyone seeking to bridge racial or political divides in the US right now should seek out economic history like that on display in the Herndon home. Atlanta Life was the lone company willing to sell the Rev. As he invested in real estate, he entered the insurance business. “They did not tell their children what they had to do to survive.” Herndon, the son of a Black mother and her white slavemaster, had less than one year of schooling and worked as a farmhand, then a barber. “I’ll tell you a secret about Black people,” our tour guide and docent Roberta Phillips said in a shaky voice, apologizing for her memory not being what it used to be. We toured his 15-room mansion on Saturday, grounded in and emboldened by a moment where the seemingly impossible was achieved. The Herndon Directors Institute is run by the Herndon Foundation, established out of the estate of Alonzo Franklin Herndon, who was born into slavery and went on to become Atlanta’s first Black millionaire as founder and head of the Atlanta Life Insurance Co. It is not too lofty to say the future of capitalism and democracy actually rests on getting inclusive leadership right.
Taylor Morrison, one of the US’s largest home-building companies, plans to begin a fellowship program to add diversity to its corporate board fellows will be paid commensurate with other directors, although they will not have a vote.Īfter decades as a financial journalist and, more recently, an entrepreneur building multiple businesses, my experience with Herndon was a rare, front-row seat into corporate decision-making, how board diversity fits into the equation, and how its lack leads to the mistrust of institutions. Some already are announcing new board appointments to comply, a trend expected to pick up pace.
By August 2023, companies must name at least one female director or someone who identifies as LGBTQ+ or non-white-or explain why they aren’t.
Because what we measure signals what we value, the stock exchange is sending a huge message on its priorities. The program this year felt particularly timely: Companies trading on the Nasdaq are up against an August 8 deadline to fill out a board diversity matrix.
0 kommentar(er)
