Opponents of corporate racial justice initiatives looking for evidence to support their position will not find it on the 2025 Fortune 500 list.
Of the top 500 corporations in the U.S., ranked by revenue, 11% are led by women — a record high — and just 1.8% are led by Black CEOs — also a record high.
The nine Black CEOs, which include two women, are:
- Marvin Ellison of Lowe’s
- Thasunda Brown Duckett of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association
- Toni Townes-Whitley of Science Applications International
- Christopher Womack of Southern Company
- Calvin Butler Jr. of Exelon
- Dave Bozeman of C.H. Robinson Worldwide
- Michael Bender of Kohl’s
- René Jones of M&T Bank
- David Rawlinson II of QVC Group
Together, they represent more than 230 years of corporate executive experience and nine advanced degrees. The companies they lead made up more than $244.76 billion in revenue last year.
More than 2,000 CEOs have led the companies represented on the Fortune 500 list since its inception 70 years ago, and in that time, only 28 of them have been Black.
In stark contrast to the racist canard that they are less qualified than their white, male counterparts, women and Black CEOs face a higher bar for advancement. Women are 32% more likely to have served as president of a company before becoming CEOs, whereas men were more likely to jump directly to CEO from division head or other lesser roles. Black CEOs are appointed with, on average, more years of education, advanced degree and elite education than a comparable group of white CEOs, researchers found in 2021.
In fact, Black CEOs, on average, are so much more highly qualified than their white peers that companies saw their stock jump in the days after appointing Black CEOs, compared to a slight decline in the days after the appointment of white CEOs.
“Put simply, our study suggests that it is not enough for aspiring Black CEOs to be just as good as their white counterparts — they must be substantially better to make it to the helm of firms,” the researchers wrote. “Until this is addressed, the poor representation of Black leaders in firms, and the differential in market returns to their appointments, will likely continue.”
But far from addressing the injustice of the higher bar, many corporations are raising it even higher.
Bowing to pressure from anti-diversity activists and the Trump administration, companies have rushed to scale back or eliminate programs and initiatives intended to eliminate barriers to equity and inclusion.
In a letter to Fortune 1,000 CEOs that I co-signed with other civil rights leaders, we wrote, “These capitulations weaken businesses and the American economy more broadly. And, these shortsighted decisions make our workplaces less safe and less inclusive for hard-working Americans.
“Abandoning DEI will have long-term consequences on business success — ultimately shirking fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders. Businesses that fail to include women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people neglect their financial duty to recruit and retain top talent from across the full talent pool and limit their company’s performance overall.”
Surely, all the CEOs who made the Fortune 500 list are worthy of congratulation. Given the barriers women and people of color have had to overcome to be included, their achievement is all the more impressive. But anyone who wants to maintain their company’s position on the list will have to recognize and embrace the value of diversity, and resist the false rhetoric surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002. He writes a twice-monthly column for the Sun-Times.
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