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The letter below was originally intended for the Henry Crown Fellowship community. It is being reposted here for the benefit of the wider AGLN community.
Dear Henry Crown Fellows,
It would be an understatement to say that this has been a difficult season in U.S. history. At the same time we are learning how to live during the time of a global viral pandemic, we are facing a racial and cultural reckoning arising from our collective witness of the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the recorded video showing the false accusation of Christian Cooper, the Central Park bird watcher. We have heard from many of our friends and colleagues who aren’t Black, about how shocked and profoundly troubled they were by these events, graphically irrefutable in their racist underpinnings. And while we, the Black Henry Crown Fellows, also found these events deeply painful, they were not at all new to us, but rather served as a painful reminder of the reality of our own experiences of being Black in America and the life experiences of the generations that came before us.
We are watching corporate America and major institutions in this country try to respond to the Black Lives Matter protests and wrestle with what the right thing is to do and how to tackle systemic racism and income inequality. And despite the fact that many organizations have stated diversity and inclusion commitments, there is still a lack of African American representation – in many cases, to an extreme degree – in the workforces, executive leadership, boards and in the supply chains and business partnerships of these institutions.
We have been proud and appreciative to be part of the Aspen Institute and members of the Henry Crown Fellowship – for some of us, for almost 20 years. In some ways, it feels like being part of a remarkable extended family. And within this HCF family, we have had the opportunity to form enduring relationships that were based on trust, mutual respect and the Aspen Institutes‘ core values of moral and ethical leadership. We must recognize however, that there are also ways that our experiences and perspectives are unique. Given this moment, we, the African American Henry Crown Fellows, have felt compelled to join together as a unified group. We offer to this Fellowship suggestions that we as Fellows can implement in the companies and organizations we lead, and that we can also share with peers in other organizations and institutions who are also grappling with these important issues. Is this not what this Fellowship is for?
Through their important work in establishing the Black Corporate Directors Conference, HCF 1997 John Rogers and HCF 2000 Mellody Hobson have organized areas for addressable action into three categories: People, Purchasing and Philanthropy. We think John & Mellody’s “Three Ps” offers a useful framework for this conversation, as well as for some of our tactical suggestions for ways of creating positive and meaningful change.
Fellows, the veil that has obscured the vast structural, systemic, and cultural inequities has been lifted. As Henry Crown Fellows this is our moment to be the voice in the room that speaks against injustice and advances actions that drive diversity and inclusion. We believe it takes the strength of allies along with that of people from marginalized and unrepresented communities to build a more just and equitable society. If we step forward together, in the spirit of fellowship, our collective impact will be significant. Thank you for the considerable support and involvement that has already come from so many members of our Henry Crown family. Let us commit to working together and across our spheres of leadership to disrupt and dismantle the systems of racial injustice that hold us all back from the promise of the good society, the shared ideal that connects us all as members of the Aspen Institute community.
“The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?” - Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail
In Fellowship,
HCF African American Fellows,
HCF 2001 Judith Aidoo-Saltus, CEO, Caswell Capital Partners, LLC
HCF 2019 Yemi Dele Akinyemi, Creative Director, Founder, CEO, JAD Productions
HCF 1998 Donna Auguste, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Auguste Research Group, LLC
HCF 2016 Dwayne Bernal, Chairman of Royal Engineers
HCF 2015 Marla Blow, SVP, North America Social Impact, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
HCF 2016 Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO, TaskRabbit HCF 2018 Jean Brownhill, CEO & Founder, Sweeten
HCF 2019 Jewel Burks Solomon, Managing Partner, Collab Capital & Head of Google for Startups, US
HCF 1998 Bill Bynum, CEO, Hope Credit Union
HCF 2012 Donna Byrd, Founder & CEO, bluebutterfly.com
HCF 2014 LaToya Cantrell, Mayor of New Orleans
HCF 2012 Troy Carter, Founder & CEO, Q&A
HCF 1999 Michelle L. Collins, Cambium LLC
HCF 2004 Stephen DeBerry, Founder and Managing Partner, Bronze Venture Fund
HCF 1998 Lance Drummond, Independent Director, Freddie Mac, FINRA, United Comm Bank
HCF 2010 Ntiedo Etuk, Co-Founder and CEO, FitGrid
HCF 2008 Thelma Golden, Director & Chief Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem
HCF 1997 Phil Harris, Partner, ElevateNext Law
HCF 2007 Crystal Hayling, Executive Director, The Libra Foundation
HCF 2000 Mellody Hobson, President & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
HCF 1998 Dr. Chris Howard, President, Robert Morris University
HCF 2004 Nike Irvin, Managing Director, Civil Society Fellowship
HCF 2014 Wasalu Jaco, Rapper, 1st & 15th Productions
HCF 2007 Joyce Johnson-Miller, Chairman, Pacific Gate Capital Management
HCF 2016 Paul Judge, Chairman, Judge Ventures
HCF 2013 Cindy Kent, Executive Vice President & President of Senior Living, Brookdale
HCF 2006 Dale LeFebvre, Founder and Executive Chairman, 3.5.7.11 Investments
HCF 2006 Phyllis Lockett, CEO, Leap Innovations
HCF 2002 Ted W. Love, M.D., CEO, Global Blood Therapeutics
HCF 2011 Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, National Correspondent
HCF 2016 Harold Mills, CEO, VMD Ventures
HCF 2013 Ceasar C. Mitchell, Partner, Dentons US LLP
HCF 2003 Eric L. Motley, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Corporate Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Aspen Institute
HCF 2018 Ryan Nece, Founder & Managing Partner, Next Play Capital
HCF 2017 Kim Newton, Artist, Founder & President, Intentional Pause Project
HCF 2008 Chinwe Onyeagoro, Chief Strategy Officer, Great Place to Work
HCF 2019 Shegun Otulana, Founder & Board Vice Chair, Therapy Brands
HCF 1999 Deval Patrick, Managing Director, Double Impact Fund, Bain Capital, LLC
HCF 1999 Michael Powell, President & CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association
HCF 2009 Eric Reeves, Managing Director, Head of Private Capital Investments, Duchossois Capital Management
HCF 2004 Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Global Policy Solutions, LLC
HCF 1997 John Rogers, Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
HCF 2017 Bozoma Saint John, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Netflix
HCF 1998 Cheryl L. Shavers, Ph.D, Independent Director, ITT Inc., Knowles Corp, CEO Global Smarts, Inc.
HCF 2002 Isaac Oupa Shongwe, Founder and Chairman of Letsema Holdings
HCF 2017 Michael Smith, Partner, Game1
HCF 1997 Gaby Sulzberger, General Partner, R.C. Fontis Partners
HCF 2012 Lisa Skeete Tatum, Founder and CEO, Landit
HCF 2009 Carla Vernón, Independent Director, Founder & President, Inspired Tiger
HCF 2005 Keith Walton, Venture Partner, Plexco
HCF 2017 Tina Wells, Founder & CEO, Buzz Marketing Group
HCF 1997 Gary White, Founder & CEO, GW Retail Consulting
HCF 2005 Angela Williams, President & CEO, Easterseals, Inc.
HCF 2013 David S. Williams III, Founder and CEO, Care3, Inc.
HCF 2019 Rodney Williams, Cofounder/Chief Commercial Officer, LISNR
HCF 2007 Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President, and CEO, DreamBox Learning
HCF 2010 Portia Yarborough, Ph.D., Technology Leader, DuPont Company
Dear Henry Crown Fellows,
It would be an understatement to say that this has been a difficult season in U.S. history. At the same time we are learning how to live during the time of a global viral pandemic, we are facing a racial and cultural reckoning arising from our collective witness of the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the recorded video showing the false accusation of Christian Cooper, the Central Park bird watcher. We have heard from many of our friends and colleagues who aren’t Black, about how shocked and profoundly troubled they were by these events, graphically irrefutable in their racist underpinnings. And while we, the Black Henry Crown Fellows, also found these events deeply painful, they were not at all new to us, but rather served as a painful reminder of the reality of our own experiences of being Black in America and the life experiences of the generations that came before us.
We are watching corporate America and major institutions in this country try to respond to the Black Lives Matter protests and wrestle with what the right thing is to do and how to tackle systemic racism and income inequality. And despite the fact that many organizations have stated diversity and inclusion commitments, there is still a lack of African American representation – in many cases, to an extreme degree – in the workforces, executive leadership, boards and in the supply chains and business partnerships of these institutions.
We have been proud and appreciative to be part of the Aspen Institute and members of the Henry Crown Fellowship – for some of us, for almost 20 years. In some ways, it feels like being part of a remarkable extended family. And within this HCF family, we have had the opportunity to form enduring relationships that were based on trust, mutual respect and the Aspen Institutes‘ core values of moral and ethical leadership. We must recognize however, that there are also ways that our experiences and perspectives are unique. Given this moment, we, the African American Henry Crown Fellows, have felt compelled to join together as a unified group. We offer to this Fellowship suggestions that we as Fellows can implement in the companies and organizations we lead, and that we can also share with peers in other organizations and institutions who are also grappling with these important issues. Is this not what this Fellowship is for?
Through their important work in establishing the Black Corporate Directors Conference, HCF 1997 John Rogers and HCF 2000 Mellody Hobson have organized areas for addressable action into three categories: People, Purchasing and Philanthropy. We think John & Mellody’s “Three Ps” offers a useful framework for this conversation, as well as for some of our tactical suggestions for ways of creating positive and meaningful change.
- People: Companies can best meet their customers' needs when they are committed to diversity across all levels of their organizations. Diversity – embracing colleagues who look, act and, importantly THINK differently – makes us stronger as teams, as organizations and members of society. It is how we guard against our blind spots and see the longer paths to opportunity. Some suggested ways of meaningfully improving the diversity in organizations and institutions include:
- Create measurable objectives for retaining and increasing Black leadership and board representation, and hiring of Black talent overall, over a reasonable time frame. Implement the Rooney rule, a policy that requires diverse candidates be on every slate of those to be interviewed for senior positions, board seats and board leadership.
- Embrace inclusive leadership through anti-racism, anti-bias and inclusion trainings and programs. Affirm the value that inclusion is a leadership skill.
- Incorporate the success measures and outcomes for representation, success, and advancement of Black and other underrepresented talent into the performance and rewards systems at all levels of management.
- Bolster Black employee recruitment through new and expanded partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and key organizations.
- Invest in your Black colleagues by increasing participation in formal training, mentorship, sponsorship, skill development and health and well-being programs, with an aim to retain and fuel the talent pipeline and ensure equitable opportunities for career advancement. Bring to bear the best available expertise to help ensure processes are in place to support the development and advancement of Black talent.
- Purchasing: When companies are willing to form contractual relationships with minorities across a variety of industries, the corporation's image is bolstered as well as the minority businesses and executives they work with. Beyond that, a more diverse business partnership community brings innovation and insights that drive enterprise value. Potential ways of achieving this include:
- Set measurable goals and objectives to increase spending with businesses owned and led by underrepresented minority businesses. Procurement programs should move beyond the historical minority supplier programs and incorporate more progressive initiatives that support broader business diversity – moving beyond, for example, the conventional minority security and janitorial services, but to also include partners in manufacturing, tech and service providers such as law firms, IT, accounting firms, marketing agencies, and investment managers.
- Review procurement processes to ensure best practices, not only to facilitate purchasing from diverse business partners, but to also support organizational values and moral leadership, such as strengthening prohibitions on prison labor in supply chains.
- Review brand work through the lens of racism and bias, with a view to enhancing performance, marketing and communication – both internally and externally. Ensure that communications business partners have the diversity of perspective necessary to support these efforts.
- Black businesses and entrepreneurs value not only your purchasing spend, but access to new customers. Explore other potential business partnerships and distribution relationships with African American owned and led companies.
- Philanthropy: Philanthropic contributions to social justice organizations and other organizations that target African American communities ultimately serve to uplift the corporation's employee and customer bases, and strengthen relationships within the broader communities it serves. It can be an important and tangible way that organizations affirm their commitment to diversity and inclusion, and some ways of doing this include:
- Have measurable philanthropic commitments to nonprofits working to create opportunity ladders and combat racism.
- Drive public policy and advocacy efforts that support anti-racism and inclusive initiatives.
- Develop and enhance a practice of employee volunteerism, that among other things could support organizations and activities that directly impact Black communities around the world, including education and training. Consider committing a specific spend to pro bono work to aid and support economic empowerment among Black Communities.
- Enhance community-based partnerships with civil rights and social justice organizations.
Fellows, the veil that has obscured the vast structural, systemic, and cultural inequities has been lifted. As Henry Crown Fellows this is our moment to be the voice in the room that speaks against injustice and advances actions that drive diversity and inclusion. We believe it takes the strength of allies along with that of people from marginalized and unrepresented communities to build a more just and equitable society. If we step forward together, in the spirit of fellowship, our collective impact will be significant. Thank you for the considerable support and involvement that has already come from so many members of our Henry Crown family. Let us commit to working together and across our spheres of leadership to disrupt and dismantle the systems of racial injustice that hold us all back from the promise of the good society, the shared ideal that connects us all as members of the Aspen Institute community.
“The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?” - Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail
In Fellowship,
HCF African American Fellows,
HCF 2001 Judith Aidoo-Saltus, CEO, Caswell Capital Partners, LLC
HCF 2019 Yemi Dele Akinyemi, Creative Director, Founder, CEO, JAD Productions
HCF 1998 Donna Auguste, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Auguste Research Group, LLC
HCF 2016 Dwayne Bernal, Chairman of Royal Engineers
HCF 2015 Marla Blow, SVP, North America Social Impact, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
HCF 2016 Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO, TaskRabbit HCF 2018 Jean Brownhill, CEO & Founder, Sweeten
HCF 2019 Jewel Burks Solomon, Managing Partner, Collab Capital & Head of Google for Startups, US
HCF 1998 Bill Bynum, CEO, Hope Credit Union
HCF 2012 Donna Byrd, Founder & CEO, bluebutterfly.com
HCF 2014 LaToya Cantrell, Mayor of New Orleans
HCF 2012 Troy Carter, Founder & CEO, Q&A
HCF 1999 Michelle L. Collins, Cambium LLC
HCF 2004 Stephen DeBerry, Founder and Managing Partner, Bronze Venture Fund
HCF 1998 Lance Drummond, Independent Director, Freddie Mac, FINRA, United Comm Bank
HCF 2010 Ntiedo Etuk, Co-Founder and CEO, FitGrid
HCF 2008 Thelma Golden, Director & Chief Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem
HCF 1997 Phil Harris, Partner, ElevateNext Law
HCF 2007 Crystal Hayling, Executive Director, The Libra Foundation
HCF 2000 Mellody Hobson, President & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
HCF 1998 Dr. Chris Howard, President, Robert Morris University
HCF 2004 Nike Irvin, Managing Director, Civil Society Fellowship
HCF 2014 Wasalu Jaco, Rapper, 1st & 15th Productions
HCF 2007 Joyce Johnson-Miller, Chairman, Pacific Gate Capital Management
HCF 2016 Paul Judge, Chairman, Judge Ventures
HCF 2013 Cindy Kent, Executive Vice President & President of Senior Living, Brookdale
HCF 2006 Dale LeFebvre, Founder and Executive Chairman, 3.5.7.11 Investments
HCF 2006 Phyllis Lockett, CEO, Leap Innovations
HCF 2002 Ted W. Love, M.D., CEO, Global Blood Therapeutics
HCF 2011 Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, National Correspondent
HCF 2016 Harold Mills, CEO, VMD Ventures
HCF 2013 Ceasar C. Mitchell, Partner, Dentons US LLP
HCF 2003 Eric L. Motley, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Corporate Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Aspen Institute
HCF 2018 Ryan Nece, Founder & Managing Partner, Next Play Capital
HCF 2017 Kim Newton, Artist, Founder & President, Intentional Pause Project
HCF 2008 Chinwe Onyeagoro, Chief Strategy Officer, Great Place to Work
HCF 2019 Shegun Otulana, Founder & Board Vice Chair, Therapy Brands
HCF 1999 Deval Patrick, Managing Director, Double Impact Fund, Bain Capital, LLC
HCF 1999 Michael Powell, President & CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association
HCF 2009 Eric Reeves, Managing Director, Head of Private Capital Investments, Duchossois Capital Management
HCF 2004 Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Global Policy Solutions, LLC
HCF 1997 John Rogers, Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
HCF 2017 Bozoma Saint John, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Netflix
HCF 1998 Cheryl L. Shavers, Ph.D, Independent Director, ITT Inc., Knowles Corp, CEO Global Smarts, Inc.
HCF 2002 Isaac Oupa Shongwe, Founder and Chairman of Letsema Holdings
HCF 2017 Michael Smith, Partner, Game1
HCF 1997 Gaby Sulzberger, General Partner, R.C. Fontis Partners
HCF 2012 Lisa Skeete Tatum, Founder and CEO, Landit
HCF 2009 Carla Vernón, Independent Director, Founder & President, Inspired Tiger
HCF 2005 Keith Walton, Venture Partner, Plexco
HCF 2017 Tina Wells, Founder & CEO, Buzz Marketing Group
HCF 1997 Gary White, Founder & CEO, GW Retail Consulting
HCF 2005 Angela Williams, President & CEO, Easterseals, Inc.
HCF 2013 David S. Williams III, Founder and CEO, Care3, Inc.
HCF 2019 Rodney Williams, Cofounder/Chief Commercial Officer, LISNR
HCF 2007 Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President, and CEO, DreamBox Learning
HCF 2010 Portia Yarborough, Ph.D., Technology Leader, DuPont Company
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