Nigeria Magazine | Fortune 500 CEOs | Black Excellence๐๏ธ๐ฐ
When Fortune published its first list of America’s 500 largest companies in 1955, none was led by a Black chief executive. Today 11 are. That is a record high that has doubled since 2021, yet it is still just 2% of the list. Together, their companies generated $432 billion in revenue. Only 28 Black executives have ever held a Fortune 500 CEO seat.
The 11, by Fortune 500 rank
- Peter Akwaboah, Fannie Mae (No. 26). He is acting CEO after Priscilla Almodovar stepped down in late 2025, and holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Birmingham, England. He was born in Ghana.
- Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s (No. 52). CEO since 2018 after leading J.C. Penney, he is the first Black executive to run two Fortune 500 companies. He began his career as a part-time Target employee earning $4.35 an hour.
- Thasunda Brown Duckett, TIAA (No. 94). CEO since 2021, she is the first woman to lead TIAA and one of two Black women currently running a Fortune 500 company.
- Christopher Womack, Southern Company (No. 152). The energy company’s president, chairman and CEO since 2023, he studied at Western Michigan University and American University.
- Calvin Butler, Exelon (No. 189). With Exelon since 2008, he holds degrees from Bradley University and Washington University School of Law.
- David Bozeman, C.H. Robinson (No. 277). The logistics giant’s CEO since 2023, he came from Ford and Amazon.
- Joi Harris, DTE Energy (No. 285). She became CEO in September 2025 after serving as chief operating officer, and holds an MBA from Wayne State University.
- Michael Bender, Kohl’s (No. 289). He took the top job in November 2025 after serving as interim CEO. He studied at Stanford and Northwestern’s Kellogg School.
- Renรฉ Jones, M&T Bank (No. 334). He joined M&T in 1992, became chief financial officer in 2005 and CEO in 2017. He has said a top priority is lifting up the next generation of CEOs of color.
- Frederick Lowery, Henry Schein (No. 335). He became CEO in March 2026 after more than two decades at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
- David Rawlinson II, QVC Group (No. 433). CEO since 2021, he leads the parent of QVC and HSN, and holds degrees from The Citadel, the University of South Carolina School of Law and Harvard Business School.
Why it matters
The pipeline is still narrow. McKinsey found Black employees make up 14% of the workforce but only 7% of managers, and just 4% to 5% at VP and senior levels. The 11 prove what is possible, but they remain the exception.
For young Nigerians at home and abroad, their stories share a pattern: engineering, law, finance and operations backgrounds, decades of steady work, and readiness when the top job opened.
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