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Excelling While Black

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Highlighting Black excellence in every field, from medicine to media, agriculture to advocacy. These are the faces shaping our future.

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Sherrilyn Ifill

Former President and Director-Counsel|

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Sherrilyn Ifill is a renowned civil rights lawyer who served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Under her leadership, the LDF was at the forefront of civil rights litigation related to voting rights, political participation, criminal justice reform, and education. Before leading the LDF, Ifill was a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and authored 'On the Courthouse Lawn,' a book examining the impact of lynchings on communities. She continues to be a powerful voice for racial justice and democracy in America.

Soraya M. Coley

President Emerita

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

First woman and first African American president of Cal Poly Pomona, appointed in 2015

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1988) & Nobel Prize in Literature (1993)

Ursula Burns

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Xerox Corporation

First Black woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company

Valerie Montgomery Rice

President and Chief Executive Officer

Morehouse School of Medicine

First African American woman to lead a freestanding medical school in the United States

Academics

7 Professionals

Authors

5 Professionals

CEOs

6 Professionals

Doctors

9 Professionals

Discover BlackExcellencein every field

Get to know the inspiring Black professionals shaping industries worldwide

Featured Professionals

Academic

Ruth J. Simmons

President Emerita, Brown University; Former President, Prairie View A&M University at Brown University

First Black president of an Ivy League institution, appointed 18th president of Brown University in 2001
First African American president of a Seven Sisters college, at Smith College in 1995

Author

Octavia Estelle Butler

Science Fiction Writer

First science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Fellowship
Multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner

CEO

Toni Townes-Whitley

Former Chief Executive Officer at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

Third Black woman to become a Fortune 500 CEO and the first to lead a defense industry corporation
Led SAIC, a Fortune 500 government technology integrator, from 2023 to October 2025

Excelling While Black

Doctors

Valerie Montgomery Rice

President and Chief Executive Officer

Morehouse School of Medicine

Selwyn Vickers

President and Chief Executive Officer

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Marcella Nunez-Smith

Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine

Yale School of Medicine

Valerie Montgomery Rice

President and Chief Executive Officer at Morehouse School of Medicine

First African American woman to lead a freestanding medical school in the United States
First woman to serve as president of Morehouse School of Medicine

Selwyn Vickers

President and Chief Executive Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

First African American to serve as president and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Elected member of the National Academy of Medicine

Marcella Nunez-Smith

Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine

Chaired the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force
Served as Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team

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Entrepreneurs

Daymond John

CEO and Founder

FUBU and The Shark Group

David L. Steward

Founder and Chairman

World Wide Technology

Robert F. Smith

Founder, Chairman and CEO

Vista Equity Partners

Daymond John

CEO and Founder at FUBU and The Shark Group

Built FUBU into a $6 billion global fashion brand
Long-running investor on ABC's 'Shark Tank'

David L. Steward

Founder and Chairman at World Wide Technology

Built World Wide Technology into a multibillion-dollar company
Board member of Civic Progress, United Way, and more

Robert F. Smith

Founder, Chairman and CEO at Vista Equity Partners

Built Vista Equity Partners into a firm managing over $95 billion in assets
Funded Morehouse College graduates' student debt elimination

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Executives

Vanessa Broadhurst

Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs

Johnson & Johnson

Stephanie C. Hill

President, Rotary and Mission Systems

Lockheed Martin

Pascal Desroches

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

AT&T Inc.

Vanessa Broadhurst

Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs at Johnson & Johnson

Appointed Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs and a member of the Johnson & Johnson Executive Committee in 2022
Previously company group chairman, Global Commercial Strategy for Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceuticals business

Stephanie C. Hill

President, Rotary and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin

Named the 2014 Black Engineer of the Year at the BEYA STEM Conference for leadership across a 27-year engineering career and STEM advocacy
Leads Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems business, a more than $17 billion enterprise with about 35,000 employees

Pascal Desroches

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at AT&T Inc.

First Black chief financial officer in AT&T's history, appointed effective April 1, 2021
Served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of WarnerMedia

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Financial Professionals

Suzanne Shank

President and Chief Executive Officer

Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Raphael Bostic

Former President and Chief Executive Officer

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Kesha Cash

Founder and General Partner

Impact America Fund

Suzanne Shank

President and Chief Executive Officer at Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Co-founded Siebert Brandford Shank in 1996 with Muriel Siebert and Napoleon Brandford and became its chief executive officer at age 35.
Leads the largest woman- and minority-owned non-bank financial firm in the United States, with roughly 120 employees across 19 U.S. offices.

Raphael Bostic

Former President and Chief Executive Officer at Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

First Black person and first openly gay person appointed president of a regional Federal Reserve Bank, in 2017.
Served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee as president of the Atlanta Fed.

Kesha Cash

Founder and General Partner at Impact America Fund

Closed a $55 million second fund for Impact America Fund in 2020, reported as the largest fund raised by a Black woman general partner.
Raised Impact America Fund's $10 million debut vehicle and built the firm as its sole general partner.

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