20 Black women of power & influence.

WILL THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO HEAD A major corporation be a woman? Maybe, if any of the women on this list have their way. The following executives wield power and influence in all areas from the competitive consumer products market to the fast-paced financial arena. They flex their muscle both here and abroad and make bottom-line decisions that impact the lives of almost every American.

In determining the roster of candidates, BE editors went back to where it all began--our inaugural list published in August 1991 entitled "21 Women of Power and Influence in Corporate America." Of the 21 women profiled that year, 10 are on this list; two others have entered the public or not-for-profit sector; one has retired; four were not in line positions; and we were unsuccessful in tracking down the other four. To round out the list, we scoured the industry--talking to recruiters, industry analysts, professional organizations and through word-of-mouth--and netted more than 50 names. We then painstakingly combed biographies and resumes, investigated and interviewed, to compile this list of 20 dynamic women and six others to watch.

Seven hold the title of president, responsible for subsidiaries or divisions of their corporations. One is an executive vice president. There are also five senior vice presidents and seven vice presidents.

These executives have authority over budgets and revenues totaling over $36 billion. They control subsidiaries, divisions or departments that affect the fiscal health and the direction of their companies. (Women in human resources, legal, corporate communications and other staff functions were not eligible.)

Their average age is 44.5. Marriage and parenthood don't appear to be major deterrents to their careers since more than half are wives and/or mothers. All have annual compensation packages (including salary, bonuses, stock options and pension plans) ranging from $250,000 to over $1 million dollars. Most also serve on the boards of small corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Eleven are members of the Executive Leadership Council, a prestigious association of African American corporate officials.

Although their impressive credentials, skills and business finesse has garnered them a lofty seat in the executive suite, unfortunately, they are often alone. According to the Glass Ceiling Commission, African American women held only 2.2% of the executive, administrative and managerial jobs in the private sector in 1990. And experts say this number has risen little since then.

"There is still a concrete ceiling and women of color must continually fight negative stereotypes, both related to gender and race," says dt ogilvie, Ph.D., assistant professor of organization management at Rutgers University Faculty of Management. She and Patricia Parker, Ph.D., professor of communications at Arkansas Tech University, authored a study on African American female executive leadership strategies. "While many more women are coming in at the middle manager level, we must be careful not to assume that these few examples of success are a reflection of what is typical," says ogilvie.

In 1996, Catalyst polled 460 women--46 were women of color who held the tide of vice president and above and worked at Fortune 1,000 firms. That study revealed the prevalent, though not mysterious, barriers that African American women climbing the corporate ladder face. The four primary factors cited: exclusion from informal networks (54%); male stereotyping and preconceptions of women (51%); lack of mentoring (46%); and lack of line experience (40%). These items also mirror what the women cite as success factors: adapting their styles to make males comfortable (74%); consistently exceeding expectations (66%); having an influential mentor (54%); and seeking difficult or highly visible assignments (51%).

"We must rule with an iron hand cloaked in a velvet glove," says one of the respondents in the new follow-up Catalyst study to be released in 1998, which will focus on the career mobility of women of color in large corporations. "Women today can be optimistic about their career outlooks, but the progress is not going to happen naturally without the intervention of corporations," says Dawn Fisher, senior associate of research and project manager of the study.

"In the past, leadership was defined through an Anglo-American, middle-class, male lens," says ogilvie. "Through these women and women like them, corporate America may be able to learn more about leadership and value the new perceptions that people of color can bring to the company."

URSULA M. BURNS

Vice President and General Manager, Departmental Copier Business Xerox

While a student at an all-girls private school, Ursula Burns wanted a career that would offer the most money after four years of college. That career was engineering.

Today, having held a variety of engineering and management jobs in the company, Burns was recently appointed vice president and general manager of Xerox's Departmental Copier Business. She is charged with the design, development and manufacturing of large workgroup digital copiers and light lens copiers for the $19.5 billion company. In addition, she oversees all sales and service administration. As part of Xerox's Office Document Products Group, her unit is the Rochester, New York-based company's largest, with $3 billion in revenues.

"International experience was invaluable," says 38-year-old Burns, who just returned to the U.S. after two years in London, where she served as vice president and general manager of the Workgroup Copier Business.

After graduating from the Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1980 with a degree in mechanical engineering, she took a summer internship at Xerox and hasn't looked back since. She went on to get her master's in mechanical engineering in 1981. Moving into engineering management in 1987 became a turning point that gave her "a great view of getting things done and leading a team," she says. In 1990, the New York native was tapped to be the executive assistant to Xerox's executive vice president of marketing and customer operations. Later that year, she held the coveted spot of assistant to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul A. Allaire. These jobs gave her "16 years of education in a year."

Burns, who knows the names of all of her high-volume marketing executives throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America, must now work to continue building the company's digital technology and market. "I have always been very focused and I like making decisions that can move things forward."

--Cassandra Hayes

PAULA CHOLMONDELEY

Vice President and General Manager Residential Insulation

"I was raised in the Caribbean, where re isn't a job off limits to you use of your race," says Paula H. J. Cholmondeley, vice president and general manager of residential insulation at Owens Corning in Toledo, Ohio, the No. 1 maker of glass fiber insulation worldwide. "The prime minister, store owners and teachers all the role models--were black."

After taking over as president of the Miraflex Fiber Products Division in 1994, Cholmondeley (pronounced "chumley") shepherded this softer insulating fiber to market in two years, garnering $20 million in sales. That led the way to her transfer last year to general manager of the $800 million residential insulation business--one of the $3.8 billion company's largest.

Despite Owens Corning having 50% of the residential insulation market, Cholmondeley, 50, plans to add value and improve profitability by implementing a new marketing program entitled "systems thinking." This means bundling the company's products such as House Wrap, vinyl siding, windows, foam insulation and roofing into one housing system. This project will be bolstered by the recent $515 million acquisition of the Dallas-based Fibreboard Corp., a maker of vinyl siding.

The Howard University graduate, who has an M.S. in accounting from Wharton, says her rise through such companies as FAXON, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, International Paper and Westinghouse Elevator was her motivation to run larger and larger businesses with increasing complexity. "I have always been willing to grow and change and knew I needed to get a diversity of experience under my belt. The key to my success was believing that there was nothing I couldn't learn how to do."

--C.H.

A. LYNN EDMONDS

Vice President Worldwide Operations Support Xerox

As 10-year-old, Lynn Edmonds often accompanied her grandfather to work in her hometown of Westchester, Pennsylvania. While there, she would sit in the oversized bosses' chairs and dream about one day managing a large business.

That dream has become a reality. Today, as the newly appointed vice president of worldwide operations support for the Document Centre Business unit of Xerox in Rochester, New York, Edmonds, 46, is responsible for implementing marketing strategies and programs for operations in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe.

As the business arena becomes network-centered, Xerox is following suit with digital--fully integrated network copiers capable of printing, faxing and scanning at the touch of a button. In 1995, Xerox introduced Document Centre Systems to meet these needs. The unit, which is projected to generate $1 billion in revenues by the turn of the century, along with Edmond's decision-making capability, will affect some 6,000 employees worldwide.

"My role now is to continue focusing on our objective of building an infrastructure for our digital projects so that we can meet the customers' needs," explains Edmonds, an American University graduate.

Since joining Xerox 20 years ago, Edmonds has held a diversity of management positions. But it was her job as a vice president of education and training that helped to broaden her skills. "I learned a cross-function of skills, not only in sales, but also in financial, administrative and customer service aspects."

Last year, with $300 million in revenues, Edmonds culminated her tenure as vice president and general manager of the Maryland/Virginia unit in the top five out of Xerox's 37 business units. The oversized chair of her childhood finally fits.

--Hal Karp

ANN FUDGE

Executive Vice President Kraft Foods Executive Vice President and General Manager Maxwell House Coffee Division

No other woman is more rumored to become the first African American female CEO of a major corporation than Ann M. Fudge. The executive vice president at Kraft Foods Inc. and executive vice president and general manager of one of its crown jewel divisions-Maxwell House Division--Fudge is charged with overseeing the manufacturing, promotion and sales of the $1.5 billion division, whose brands include Maxwell House, Sanka, Yuban, General Foods International Coffees and Gevalia.

Since 1994, Fudge has doubled the White Plains, New York-based java giant's earnings, keeping pace with America's craving for premium coffee. Even with almost a third of the U.S. coffee market in her hands--behind Procter & Gamble's Folger's--Fudge, 46, wants more. Pumping up sales and market share for the century-old coffee company has included aggressive advertising and marketing that meant going back to the basics and rejuvenating its "good to the last drop" slogan. Fudge's current challenge is maintaining Maxwell House's share of the market in light of the recent leap in coffee prices--at an all-time, 20-year high.

Looking back, Fudge says it took more than a Harvard M.B.A. to carve out a 20-year marketing career track at not only Kraft, but General Mills, where she went from a marketing assistant to director. "It took focus and determination."

Instrumental in the careers of many African Americans at Kraft, Fudge recently promoted Bridgette Heller, general manager at Gevalia Kaffe to vice president in a move that mirrored her own climb. "Not everyone starts out with the capabilities to run a business. For me, it took a management that recognized my ability and gave me the opportunity."

--C.H.

VICKI FULLER

Senior Vice President Alliance Capital Management

Depending on the day of the week, you night find Vicki Fuller in Morocco, Turkey or South Africa. Such is life for the global financial manager, whose job as senior vice president of New York-based Alliance Capital Management Corp. knows no bounds. For Alliance, which boasts roughly $183 billion in assets under management, Fuller manages high-yield, emerging markets and global high-yield portfolios totaling $2 billion, and co-leads the company's global high-yield group of $7.4 billion. Fuller, 40, who thrives on leading the pack, is touted as one of the best in her field by industry insiders. Embarking on new territory, she developed and executed over $2 billion of collateralized bond obligations, her proudest accomplishment.

"Today, information is so quick and economic and monetary cycles have become globalized, so that I must think like an entrepreneur," says the Chicago native. Having a business-owner perspective is a must for success she adds, and she should know. Her funds consistently perform above average with one of her youngest, the Touchstone Income Opportunities Fund, already returning 21.34% this past year to grab second place out of 158 funds tracked by Lipper Analytical.

Fuller approaches career and investing choices with the same mantra--"strategy based on research and analysis." While at Morgan Stanley & Co., fresh out of the University of Chicago's M.B.A. program, Fuller realized she wanted in on buying. "But I needed analytical capabilities," she recalls. So she joined Standard and Poor's Corp. as a rating officer. Soon, a job at Equitable Capital Management, which was acquired by Alliance in 1993, came her way.

When asked what she likes most about her job, Fuller responds with a laugh, "This is not a job--it's too dynamic and exciting."

--H.K.

KIM GREEN

Senior Vice President Aon Risk Services

Most people work with the ultimate goal one day own their own business. For Kim Green, running her own business was merely a vehicle to the upper rungs of corporate America. "Most of my colleagues are in their 50s, and I knew the only way I'd move up quickly was to go out on my own first," she explains.

Today, as senior vice president of Aon Risk Services Inc. of New York, Green is an account director for new business efforts in property, casualty and professional liability areas for Fortune 500, health care and middle market businesses. Last year, 8.5% of Aon Risks $170 million in revenues were attributed to her savvy relationship-building with some of the nation's largest high-tech and health care companies.

Green started out as an underwriter with Chubb & Son Inc. in 1983. But the Hampton University alum wanted more. "I had good presentation skills and the opportunity to develop client relationships intrigued me," says the 35-year-old Baltimore native, who moved to the brokerage firm Alexander & Alexander of New York in 1985. She quickly set her sights on a senior vice president post and determined that shining in her own business was the best way to get noticed.

Five years later, she opened her own brokerage firm--MGIS. By 1995, the firm had a $5 million book. And as she had predicted, the job offers poured in. Green opted to join Aon, the world's largest retail insurance broker. Within a year, she broke the million dollar sales mark a distinction earned by only a select few.

Green says that building strategic alliances and nurturing them have helped her succeed, and that companies doing business with her can expect business from her. "The traditional insurance days are over," she says. "Today, you have to be more creative."

MICHELE HOOPER

Corporate Vice President and President, International Business Group Caremark International

Michele Hooper was told a U.S.-style pharmacy benefit management program (PBM)--a service that manages and processes insurance prescription claims--would never succeed in Europe. But Hooper, president of the international business group and corporate vice president at Northbrook, Illinois-based Caremark International, persevered. Last December, Caremark (a subsidiary of MedPartners Inc.), already a leading provider of health care services worldwide, made history by successfully offering 1.5 million Netherlands residents a mail-order pharmacy. This was the first step in establishing a full-service PBM.

"We pioneered the PBM by building relationships, trust and credibility," says Hooper, 46. When Caremark decided in 1992 to bring managed care to cost-concerned foreign markets, Hooper was the natural choice to lead.

"I have always been one to leap in and give my two cents. If I was wrong, I admitted it and went on to plan B. This is what allowed people to trust my judgment," she says. Previously, as president of Baxter Corp., Canada's largest health care and laboratory supplies company, Hooper turned the company around in less than three years, improving return on profits by 50%. The Uniontown, Pennsylvania, native began at Baxter International in 1976 as a senior financial analyst after receiving her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

In five years, she has led Caremark into foreign territories and revenues have zoomed from $11 million to $92 million. In addition, operations have expanded to six countries where services offered include home infusion, HIV clinics and PBMs. Explains Hooper, who now spends 50% of her time on foreign ground: "We're planting seeds in new territory, inventing as we go."

--H.K.

LINDA BAKER KEEN

Vice President Market Development American Express Financial Advisors

High stakes have never stopped Linda Keene from taking a business gamble. In 1987, while at the Pillsbury Co., she daringly suggested a reorganization of the microwave food division--a recommendation that could have cost her the job. Instead, profits increased by more than 200% over three years, and she was promoted to vice president of marketing.

When American Express acquired IDS Financial Services, changing the name to American Express Financial Advisors, they sought a more consumer-oriented marketing approach. Enter Keene in 1994, tapped to be vice president of market development. "I was attracted to the challenge. Professionally, the thought of taking my marketing skills into a totally different environment invigorated me," explains Keene, 45, a Harvard M.B.A. graduate, who, for 10 years, honed her marketing skills at the Gillette Co. in Boston, prior to joining Pillsbury.

The New York native's first steps at American Express Financial Advisors included launching a national advertising campaign, implementing direct marketing programs and upgrading the consumer financial education seminars. Keene is charged with building the customer base through advertising and direct marketing initiatives for the Minneapolis-based company, which had $2.3 billion in revenues in 1996. In addition, she must establish the company as a force to contend with in the crowded financial services arena.

Taking the road less traveled is not new. Early on in her career, Keene chose her mentors at the top of the ladder: people who, very often, were not African American. "It's not easy for people to give feedback to someone different, but I had to project an aura that said I was comfortable with that kind of coaching," recalls Keene. "You'll never know what mistakes you're making if nobody is telling you."

--Keisha Anderson

BRENDA LAUDERBACK

President, Wholesale and Retail Group Nine West Group

Brenda Lauderback has a passion for shoes. And as group president of wholesale and retail for Nine West Group Inc., she is turning her passion into profit, to the tune of $608 million, 38% of the company's 1996 revenues.

Lauderback's brands--Easy Spirit, Amalfi, Evan-Picone, Bandolino and Selby--employ over 1,200 workers across four continents. With almost 220 retail outlets nationwide, she is responsible for guiding the strategic direction, design and sales of the Stamford-Connecticut-based company. Despite Easy Spirit being the largest non-athletic wholesale producer of women's footwear in the U.S., Lauderback says "Comfort and energy have become increasingly important to women, and we've yet to really tap the full potential of the market."

In 1996, Lauderback increased revenues in her area by 20%, including a 160% increase in two lines given to her because of underperformance. "I have the ability to quickly identify opportunities for increased profitability," explains the Pittsburgh native.

Turnaround is nothing new to Lauderback. Prior to Nine West, as president of wholesale footwear for U.S. Shoe Corp. (which was acquired by Nine West in 1995), she took her segment of the business from a $9 million loss to a $32 million gain in 18 months.

It was a 10th grade marketing class that inspired Lauderback to go into the retail field. With a marketing degree from Pittsburgh's Robert Morris College, Lauderback climbed from sportswear buyer in 1976 to vice president and general merchandise manager at the Dayton Hudson Corp. in 1980. "The one thing I've always believed," says the 47-year old Lauderback, "is that if you can see it, you can be it."

--H.K.

DEBRA LEE

President and COO BET Holdings

Debra Lee carries a torch. The one passed to her last year when Bob Johnson, founder and CEO of BET Holdings, made her president and chief operating officer. A strange twist for someone who moved to Washington, D.C., in 1983 hoping to land a government position creating public policy.

Disenchanted by the conservative leaning of the town under Ronald Reagan's administration, Lee instead began practicing corporate law for Steptoe and Johnson in Washington, which handled BET's legal account. Her work on the BET account eventually led Johnson to offer Lee the position of vice president/general counsel in 1986. The post gave Lee valuable insight into a wide variety of aspects of the Washington, D.C.-based, $500 million holding company, whose interests include cable programming, publishing and theme restaurants.

It also allowed the Greensboro, North Carolina, native to focus on more than legal issues. During her tenure, Lee oversaw construction of the company's on-site broadcast studio, as well as BET's publishing ventures: Emerge and YSB. In 1995, Lee, now 42, was promoted to head of business development, where she helped to orchestrate ventures such as a co-branded BET Visa card and the development of two BET SoundStage restaurants (the second of which will open in the Spring of 1998 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida).

"I wasn't expecting Bob [Johnson] to give up the reins and appoint one person to run the company," says Lee, who has a master's in public policy and a J.D. from Harvard. Drawing on her experience as a corporate attorney, she uses what she calls a "mediating style" of management--especially handy when allocating the company's $100 million annual operating budget. Through BET, Lee is finally able to influence public policy, though not quite in the manner she'd first envisioned.

--Tariq K. Muhammad

CATHERINE LEWIS

Vice President, Product Support Sales, Southern U.S. Region IBM 

"I wanted to be either a lawyer or mathematician, recalls Catherine J. Lewis who, at the age of 12, wanted a career in which she could use her strong analytical and decision-making skills. Today, with a Grambling State University math degree behind her, the vice president of product support services for IBM's Southern U.S. region in Atlanta is analyzing the computer market for big businesses. Contributing to her climb up the ranks of the $75.9 billion computer technology leader was "a unique ability to look at complex problems, break them apart and put them back together," says Lewis.

In a role she has had since April, Lewis is delivering hardware, software and networking services and products to Big Blue's large business customers from Maryland to Florida and Tennessee to Mississippi. As part of the $15.8 billion global services division, Lewis' region ranks second out of six, and her team of 900 is poised to bring in $600 million in revenues this year.

With 18 years of leadership experience under her belt, Lewis knows the importance of understanding the customer. The former senior director at IBM's Lotus Development Corp. says she must give her clients more. "I've tried to stay in touch with the customer, to listen, get to the core of the problem and quickly get on with the fixing," says Lewis, 50.

"In order to be a good leader, you must also be a good communicator," so the Minden, Louisiana, native spends a majority of her time in the field, talking to clients to maintain service and grow her market. "It's the only way to find out if what we have in our toolbox will get us where they want to go.

--H.K.

GLENDA GOODLY 

Vice President American Express

In some circles, a person having more than different jobs in eight years at one company might be considered high-risk. But when that person is Glenda Goodly McNeal at American Express Co., those moves have added up to nothing short of a gold mine.

Having sharpened her marketing skills in the company's traveler's checks and consumer card divisions, McNeal is now on the establishment services side where she is currently vice president of strategic relationships in the travel and entertainment industries.

With a $15 million budget, the Louisiana native manages the client relationships of 14 North American accounts that generate more than $10 billion in charge volume. Those clients include such heavy hitters as American Airlines, Walt Disney and Hilton Hotels. The former Salomon Brothers mortgage specialist says her goal, in this position that she has had since April, is to "understand her client's business and create strategic alliances to meet their objectives." McNeal is poised to form partnerships similar to American Express White Glove Treatment program with Walt Disney World, which offers cardholders special benefits when they visit Disney properties

Throughout her career, McNeal has learned a valuable lesson. "It is important to have a solid support system. I had people both inside and outside the company to whom I could go to and test things out," says the 36-year-old Wharton Business School graduate. "It was good to have someone who knew the politics and players within the organization and others outside who could give unbiased career advice."

Relishing the fact that she is finally in charge, McNeal cautions, "it is important to balance personal values and career aspirations. You never want to relinquish 100% control of your career."

--Valerie Lynn Gray

YVONNE MONTGOMERY

Senior Vice President and General Manager, Southern Customer Operations for U.S. Customer Operations Xerox

For Yvonne Montgomery; there is no substitute for hard work. Since joining the Xerox Corp. in 1976 as a sales representative, Montgomery has held formidable sales positions. From her office in Atlanta, the Howard University graduate casts a vast net across the south as senior vice president and general manager of Southern Customer Operations for U.S. Customer Operations--Xerox's U.S. marketing group.

As the leader of eight customer business units from Texas to the Carolinas and Puerto Rico, Montgomery, 42, has over 3,000 employees and revenues of roughly $1.5 billion. Despite her rise up the sales career track, it was a 1993, two-year tour as executive assistant to Xerox Chairman and CEO Paul Allaire that gave her a true understanding of the Stamford, Connecticut-based corporation.

"This was the first time I really stepped out of the traditional sales environment. The experience took me out of my `comfort zone' and gave me an opportunity to gain exposure to all divisions," recalls Montgomery, who served briefly as vice president of marketing for Latin American operations in 1995.

Montgomery's main goals are capturing the marketplace opportunities and leading the technology transition into the digital world. "We will do this by continuing to understand our customers' needs and working together to solve their business problems," she says. A main source of her motivation lies in one simple belief: "I am the one who ultimately controls my destiny."

--K.A.

VIKKI PRYOR

Senior Vice President, Customer Operations and Service Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts

With the evolution of health care, insurance companies increasingly tow the line between keeping costs down and being profitable and providing quality service to patients. When Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts began to restructure to survive the advent of managed care, Vikki Pryor was quickly tapped to be the change agent.

As senior vice president of customer operations and service for the $3.4 billion company--which ranks among one of the nation's largest BlueCross/BlueShield plans--Vikki Pryor is responsible for an infrastructure that supports more than 4,600 employees and 1.9 million members. Armed with a budget of $217 million--roughly half the company's operating expenses--Pryor, 44, oversees Information Systems, Operations Processing, Claims, Customer Service, Total Quality Management, Operations Management and Medicare Operations. Her charges total over 2,000 people spread out over seven locations.

Having earned a B.A. and J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.B.A. and C.P.A. from the University of Illinois, not only does Pryor look good on paper, she delivers. Changes such as streamlining management and increasing communication lines among employees have improved quality and lowered 1996 costs by over $14 million.

Prior to joining the Boston-based company in 1993, Pryor worked for Allstate Life Insurance Co., where in five years, she led Sears and Discover credit insurance products from ground zero to $75 million in sales annually.

"I've always worked hard to focus on what's in front of me," explains the Chicago native. "And knowing the value of my contributions has driven me more than anything else."

--H.K.

SYLVIA RHONE

Chairman and CEO Elektra Entertainment Group

Walk into Village a club in the East Village of New York City one evening and you might spot Sylvia Rhone consorting with some of today's popular hip-hop stars. The next day, dressed in full corporate attire, the chairman and CEO of the New York-based Elektra Entertainment Group is heading to a board meeting.

This ability to bridge street life and corporate America is what has made Rhone a driving force in the music industry--and its only African American woman to head a major record label. "I've been successful at being able to identify young, new talent and taking established artists to superstar levels," says Rhone, who prides herself on her full-service, multigenre label that boasts headliners from Metallica to En Vogue to Tracy Chapman.

"I know how to manage a company financially and combine it with solid relationships with creative people. It's those two worlds that I fuse together," says the 40-something New York native.

After starting out in the administrative pool of Buddha Records in 1974, she steadily rose through the ranks of record labels such as ABC and Atlantic Records, holding various marketing and promotion positions. In 1990, Rhone launched EastWest Records (then a subsidiary of Atlantic Records), becoming its president and CEO. She was instrumental in the 1994 merger of EastWest, Sire and Elektra Records into the Elektra Entertainment Group--a part of the Warner Music Group and a $5-billion global music subsidiary of Time Warner/Turner--which she now heads.

Since she took over, Elektra's record sales have gone from $200 million to more than $300 million in 1996, making it Warner Music's most profitable label two years running. Keeping grounded is important to the Wharton B-School graduate. "I don't think any business will cause me to lose sight of myself, because that's where I get my inner strength."

--Bevolyn Williams-Harold

LINDA JOHNSON RICE

President and COO Johnson Publishing

"Make yourself indispensable," is the sound advice from Linda Johnson Rice, president and chief operating officer at Johnson Publishing Co., offered to women entering corporate America. As the heir apparent to the largest African American-owned publishing company in the world and No. 2 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list, Rice has her hands full. Her father, John Johnson, made the Johnson entities a household name stateside; Rice plans to make them global.

Anchored by its magazines: Ebony, Jet, Ebony Man and Ebony South Africa; Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which are sold in over 2,500 stores worldwide; the Ebony Fashion Fair fashion show; and other television, publishing and beauty product concerns, the $325 million Chicago-based company continues to be poised for expansion--mostly through joint ventures. "Besides advertising subscriptions and cosmetic lines on our Web site, we have a joint venture that will allow us to pay more attention to our South African editorial and aid our new finance, health and parenting video series," says Rice, 39.

For those soothsayers that say the success of Johnson Publishing is only ensured by taking the company public, the Kellogg School of Management graduate says such a prediction is too premature. "Our strategy is to stay private where we would have better control." Maintaining that control is also anchored in Rice's basic tenet that often eludes many people in the executive suite. Says the Chicago native: "I consider myself a good listener. I respect my co-workers' opinions and don't run roughshod over them. Listening to all of them has been key."

--C.H.

JOYCE ROCHE

President and COO Carson Inc.

In two years, Joyce M. Roche, president and chief operating officer of Carson Inc., did what some only dream of. She maneuvered away from a stifling plateau at Avon, landed a prime role in another company and eventually became its president.

As Avon's vice president of global marketing, she successfully took their ANEW skin care and Avon color cosmetics line global, raising the products' annual worldwide sales by 170% and 98%, respectively. But Roche, who had already held every marketing job at Avon, became disillusioned with her dwindling autonomy and the company's foot-dragging in penetrating the global market. In 1994, with no job in the wings, Roche resigned.

After a year, she accepted the same position offer from Carson Inc., the Savannah, Georgia-based company, maker of Dark & Lovely hair care products and Magic Shave. Only this time, she oversees the activities of several key divisions, including sales, marketing, operations, and research and development. Seizing opportunities has been the Louisiana native's modus operandi since her senior year at Dillard University.

"I was on the path to become an educator, but the Civil Rights movement and affirmative action opened doors to opportunities I hadn't ever known existed. That is when I decided to go into business," recalls Roche, who also has an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Today, with a staff of more than 400 in Savannah and South Africa Roche, 50, is responsible for all day-to-day operating aspects of the $65 million company. Her objective: further penetrate the international front in Africa and South America. This past June, the company also launched the Dark & Lovely cosmetics line. Says Roche: I've always been ready to take advantage of an opportunity and give it my all."

--Robyn Clarke

VICKI G. ROMAN

Vice President and Treasurer Coca-Cola Enterprises

Imagine trying to budget the finances of a large household. Now scatter the family across two continents! Sound daunting? Not for Vicki Roman, vice president and treasurer of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (C.C.E.) in Atlanta, who has to manage the company's $9 billion multicurrency debt portfolio, ensuring that corporate monies are not raised or spent before they are needed. In addition to capital markets, she's also responsible for global cash management. Roman oversees the world's largest bottler's $1.5 billion pension and 410(k) plan investments.

"I am a perfectionist and expect nothing less than the best. To give anything else is unacceptable," says Roman who majored in both economics and business at Rhodes College in Memphis.

Roman, 44, had a fairytale ascension up the corporate ladder and was often spotted by top-level people who eventually became mentors and friends. Prior to joining Coca-Cola Co. (C.C.C.) in 1983 as manager of worldwide pension investments, Roman spent five years at Federal Express as the company's first African American female manager. Under her leadership, C.C.C.'s pension and 401 (k) investment assets grew from $150 million in 1983 to $750 million in 1986. She was named assistant treasurer of C.C.E. after it spun off from its parent in 1986. C.C.E. is the world's largest marketer, producer and distributor of C.C.C. products.

The Memphis native oversaw C.C.E.'s recent acquisitions of bottlers in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Canada, Great Britain and domestically, New York--all totaling about $5 billion--plus handed the ensuing international insurance, pension and cash management issues.

Roman readily admits that her success requires more than intelligence and corporate savvy: "It helps if you're a superwoman!"

--B.W.H.

PAULA SNEED

Senior Vice President, Marketing Services Kraft Foods Inc.

When Paula A. Sneed joined the General Foods Corp. (which later merged with Kraft Foods) in 1977, the assistant product manager knew she wanted to one day become an officer in the company. "People looked at me as though I was not for real," says the Simmons College and Harvard B-School graduate, with a lilt of a Boston accent. "I, instead, looked around and saw what I had to do to get there." And making her mark in product management proved to be the ticket to the executive suite in a company known for Kraft cheese, Maxwell House coffees and Jell-O desserts.

From category manager to executive vice president and general manager of General Foods' Dinners and Enhancers division, she has paved a stellar career track. Today, Sneed, 54, is Kraft's senior vice president of marketing services and, with 500 employees, calls the shots on nine of the food manufacturer's marketing functions including media and advertising services, marketing research, corporate and consumer promotion and ethnic marketing and external relations. She is also a member of the Kraft Operating Committee, where she helps to define company policy.

Innovative thinking has played a key role in Sneed's rise at the White Plains, New York-based company, which spends $800 million annually on media buying. She has taken creative marketing to the Internet with the Kraft Interactive Kitchen. Experienced cooks and novices alike can log onto the Web site for new monthly or holiday recipes. Her success driver: "I knew what I wanted from my career. Without a grand plan, you're selling yourself short."

--C.H.

DOROTHY TERREL

President, Sun Express SunMicrosystems

Dorothy Terrell has always had a penchant for people. As a former guidance counselor and social service administrator, she knows how to carefully select, inspire and lead her staff of nearly 300 worldwide to new heights of customer service at SunExpress Inc. The Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company is the after-marketing division of its parent, SunMicrosystems Inc., creator of Java technology and one of the world's largest providers of network computing solutions.

Before becoming president of SunExpress, Terrell, 52, headed Digital Equipment Corp.'s Application-Specific Interconnect and Packaging Group in Boston, a manufacturing division. Terrell's operations and manufacturing background, combined with her keen ability to motivate people, impressed Sun's president Scott McNealy. In 1991, he wooed the Florida A&M graduate to head Sun Express a new unit developed by Mountain View, California-based SunMicrosystems to provide direct marketing and customer service to its business clients--a service it formerly outsourced.

The transition from manufacturing to operations was an easy one for Terrell, who has made SunExpress one of the parent company's fastest growing operations, garnering over $300 million in sales last year.

By expanding the use of the Internet, the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, native has made SunExpress one of the primary sources of electronic commerce for SunMicrosystems. Not one to shy away from challenges, she wants to create "virtual geography" where customers can order Sun products via the Internet, clicking an icon to reach a telesales rep. "Our level of customer service is a way of differentiating ourselves. I like being able to make things happen."

--B.W.H.