"Roz" Brewer will become only the 2nd Black woman to permanently lead a Fortune 500 company
27 January 2021
Rosalind "Roz" Brewer is about to become only the second Black woman to permanently lead a Fortune 500 company. She starts as Walgreens CEO on March 15.
Why it matters: It's a stark reminder of how far corporate America's top decision-makers have to go during an unprecedented push by politicians, employees and even a stock exchange to diversify their top ranks.
- The former Starbucks COO, who played a key role in shaping the company's pandemic response, is the cohort's first Black woman in a permanent CEO job since Ursula Burns stepped down from Xerox in 2016.
- Mary Winston served as the interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond for six months in 2019 — until Mark Tritton, a white man, was named permanent CEO.
The big picture: Diversity among Fortune 500 chief executives across the board is a disappointment. The number of Black Fortune 500 CEOs peaked at six in 2012. Since then, it's gotten worse.
- Brewer will now be one of five Black Fortune 500 chief executives — alongside Merck's Kenneth Frazier, Lowe's Marvin Ellison, M&T Bank's René Jones, and TIAA's Roger Ferguson.
- That will slip to four in March — when Ferguson is set to leave his post.
Between the lines: While the number of women heading the country's biggest companies is still unimpressive, there are currently more than ever before (41).
- The list is growing: Walgreens rival CVS named Karen Lynch as its new CEO last year. She takes the helm on Feb. 1. Jane Fraser takes over as Citigroup's first woman CEO next month.
What's next: If America's largest companies want to pull from within their top ranks, potential Black successors aren't plentiful.
- Take the 100 of the biggest U.S. companies: As of last year, just 1% of CFOs and 4% of corporate division heads at 100 of America’s largest firms are Black, per research by Stanford University.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.