11 Black Fortune 500 CEOs Lead $432 Billion
Thasunda Brown Duckett, the 52-year-old CEO of TIAA (No. 94 on the Fortune 500, $51 billion in sales), told Wharton School graduates in 2023 that she learned her most important leadership skill as a child: character. “What I know today, as a leader, is that I rent my title, I own my character,” she said. Duckett took the reins of the insurance company in 2021, becoming the first woman to lead it in its 100-year history. She is one of only two Black women currently serving as a Fortune 500 chief executive. She called the tiny group of Black women who have held the role — just four in history — a “sisterhood” that includes Ursula Burns, Roz Brewer, and Toni Townes-Whitley. Duckett said progress is far from complete.
The Fortune 500 list, which ranks the largest U.S. companies by sales, has tracked more than 2,000 CEO arrivals since 1955. Women now hold 11% of those jobs, about 55 companies. Among the current cohort, only 11 companies are led by Black chief executives — just 2% of the list. It’s a record high, doubling since 2021, and those firms collectively generated $432 billion in income and had a combined market value of $405 billion.
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Fortune 500 companies control $21 trillion in sales.
They employ 30.5 million people. The number of Black people in the U.S. rose to 48.3 million in 2023, up 33% from 2000, according to researchers. A 2021 McKinsey study covering about 3.7 million employees found that Black workers make up 14% of the workforce but only 7% of managers — half their entry-level share. At VP and senior manager levels, representation drops to 4% to 5%.
Here are the Black CEOs running major companies.
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Marvin R. Ellison leads Lowe’s, which ranks No. 52 on the list and posted $84 billion in sales in 2025. He became CEO in 2018 after running J.C. Penney, making him the first Black chief executive to lead two different companies on the list. Ellison started his career earning $4.35 an hour as a part-time Target employee. “I didn’t have great pedigree, I didn’t have an Ivy League education,” he told FUBU founder Daymond John in 2022. “I had to find a way to differentiate myself.”
Christopher C. Womack is chairman and CEO of Southern Company.
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Appointed in 2023, he said in an October 2024 interview: “If I want to see something change, I have to do it myself. I just can’t point to others.” Calvin Butler leads Exelon (No. 189), also appointed in 2023. His advice: “Surround yourself with people who are more talented and smarter than you.” David P. Bozeman runs C.H. Robinson Worldwide (No. 277), a logistics firm. Joi Harris became CEO of DTE Energy (No. 285) in September 2025 after serving as COO. “I’m serving my family, my friends, my neighbors,” she said at the 2026 Detroit Policy Conference.
Michael Bender took over as chief executive of Kohl’s (No. 289) in November 2025. René F. Jones leads M&T Bank (No. 334); he joined the bank in 1992 and worked up to CFO before becoming chief executive in 2017. In a 2021 interview, Jones said: “Job No. 1 is lifting up the next set of CEOs of color.” Frederick M. Lowery became chief executive of Henry Schein (No. 335) in March 2026 after two decades at Thermo Fisher Scientific. David L. Rawlinson II runs QVC Group (No. 433), parent of QVC and HSN. “Even in the dark days you have to be able to see through to the promise on the other side,” he told a reporter.
