BCDC: a force for empowering black directors.

• Author: Rogers, John W., Jr.
• Position: BOARD DIVERSITY - Company overview

Ed. Note: John W. Rogers Jr. is chairman, CEO and chief investment officer of Ariel Investments (www.arielinvestments.com), a Chicago-based fund management firm that he founded in 1983 to focus on undervalued small and medium-sized companies. He also serves as lead portfolio manager or co-portfolio manager for several of the funds managed by Ariel. He is a board member of Exelon Corp. and McDonald's Corp. and is a trustee of the University of Chicago.

Sitting outside overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it is a beautiful September day in Southern California, and we are hard at work. With fewer than 24 hours before the start of our 11th annual conference, the other sponsors of the Black Corporate Directors Conference (BCDC) and I meet to go over a few final details.

In 2002, Charles Tribbett, a senior partner at Russell Reynolds Associates, and I founded BCDC to facilitate structured dialogue about the experiences, opportunities and challenges facing black directors of Fortune 500 companies. Mellody Hobson, my longtime business partner and president of our firm, Ariel Investments, also sponsors the event. We gather every year to bring together high-level black business leaders to discuss topical corporate governance issues, while ensuring diversity becomes an important part of the board agenda. We believe diversity is in the best interest of all shareholders. When a diverse group of people are considered and included, the very best talent always surfaces and the best outcomes result.

Since its inception, this conference of our nation's leading black directors has grown from just 38 attendees in its inaugural year to 150 directors participating last fall. Part of what makes our conference of black directors so extraordinary is the diversity within our group. A few companies whose boards are represented at this conference are: McDonald's Corp., Starbucks Coffee Co., DreamWorks Animation SKG, Northern Trust Corp., Dell Inc., JP Morgan Chase, Prudential Financial, Gap Inc., Starwood Hotels and Lodging, CBS Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., and Pfizer Inc. The participants are committed to advancing the civil rights agenda in the corporate boardroom. Although we acknowledge the meaningful progress we have made so far, we remain focused on continuing to move the needle since the data shows the need for conversations around diversity is greater than ever.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

African Americans account for 13% of the United States population; however, we...