Women of the B.E. 100s.

A LOOK AT HOW WOMEN CEOs ARE RUNNING SOME OF TODAY'S LARGEST BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

THE WORLD OF THE BE 100s is one of exclusivity. The CEOs that run these concerns often move within select inner circles and make their multimillion-dollar deals behind tightly dosed doors.

These CEOs also share another common trait--they are almost exclusively male.

Of the companies on the 1998 BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list, only five firms--TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., Soft Sheen Products Inc., Thomas Madison Inc., V&J Foods and Management Technology Inc.--are headed by women. While they may be in the minority, their impact in the African American business community is unmistakable. Together, these five concerns accounted for $1.69 billion in revenues in 1997 (TLC Beatrice accounting for $1.4 billion), and employed over 8,500 workers. And, three of these five firms hold lofty positions among the top 20 black companies in the nation.

But their contribution doesn't stop there. Peruse our lists of auto dealerships, advertising companies, investment firms, banks and insurance concerns and you'll find female CEOs are represented. Among them are auto dealers such as Norma Ross, running Bob Ross Buick in Centerville, Ohio, and Emma Chappell, a powerful force on the financial scene as head of the United Bank of Philadelphia.

Talk to each of these women and they will confide that their success has come only after facing obstacles of race and gender. but if they share any attribute, it's determination to succeed and an ability to thrive despite the many hurdles thrown in their path.

Here are just some of their stories:

Norma Ross CEO of Bob Ross Buick

Norma Ross never envisioned herself running Bob Ross Buick. She was always more content to remain behind the scenes, while her husband Bob made the big deals and set the fast pace for their Centerville, Ohio, dealership. Bob Ross Buick has the unique distinction of being the first of just two black-owned Mercedes dealerships in the nation.

But following her husband's death last year, Ross, 64, had to make a choice. Either allow the auto dealership her husband purchased in 1979 to die with him or carry it on in his name. The decision came rather quickly. "I never entertained any thoughts of selling the store," says Ross. "I went back in the office the same week after his death, committed to continuing what my husband had put in place. I have no intention of getting out," she says with conviction.

What helped with the difficult transition was her familiarity with the business. Whether it was performing public relations and consulting work for the dealership, or just offering words of sage advice and counsel to her husband, Ross was always involved in the company. She maintained an active if subtle presence in the dealership and knew the management staff well.

But it's one thing to have operated in the background--and another to step to the forefront. Now overseeing a staff of 128 employees, Ross, a former schoolteacher, says she's still adjusting to her new role. "It means getting used to long hours and into the corporate role of scheduling and attending dealer meeting," says Ross. "I'm carrying a full schedule as president of this company."

Her introduction to the world of auto dealerships came almost by osmosis. In Richmond, Indiana, while Bob Ross was going dealers would inevitably gather at their house and end up discussing the business. "Dealer operations became a daily discussion in my home," she says. "So I was always aware of how the business worked."

After several years of operating a Buick, Opal and International Harvester Trucks dealership in Richmond, the couple pooled their resources in 1979 and purchased Davis Buick and Mercedes-Benz in Centerville. Today Ross and her daughter, Jenell, are in the midst of expanding the operation. They recently opened another lot and currently sell from a broad vehicle base that includes Buick, Mercedes, GMC and a host of pre-owned vehicles. Last year, the company had sales of $66.7 million, landing it in the No. 23 spot on the BE AUTO DEALER 100 list.

Jenell, 28, who has served as the company's customer relations manager for the last five years, has witnessed firsthand her mother's desire to keep the business running. "She's a very energetic, enthusiastic person," says Jenell. "I can be here from 8 a.m. to late in the evening and she's still here, wanting to talk and walk through plans or ideas she has about the business."

The transition has meant sacrifices on Jenell's part as well. She had been attending graduate school part time at Wright State University in Dayton to earn an M.B.A. But that's been put on the back burner for the moment. "I had to be here as much as possible," she says. "It's been almost a year [since her father's death], but we're still getting comfortable with our expanded roles." Currently, she is attending the National Automobile Dealer Association's (NADA) dealer academy, a preparatory program for aspiring auto dealers. The goal is that either she or her brother, Robert, already a NADA graduate who now leases and sells used luxury automobiles with his own company, 21st Century Auto Leasing, will run the company once her mother steps down.

Ross and her daughter have been aggressive in implementing new initiatives. Among these is an open house held for their Buick customers. Every other month new customers are invited back to the dealership to learn more about their vehicle and the dealership itself "It gives our customers a chance to see us and put a face with a name if they ever need service," says Jenell. "So far, they've been very receptive."

Indeed. This year the dealership reported one of the best sales months in its 19-year history. In May, it sold nearly 300 vehicles, compared to 196 sold in May 1997. Ross is taking that momentum and going for a ride along the Internet, where customers will soon be able to find the vehicle of their choice in cyberspace at www.bobross auto.com.

Bob Ross' presence is still being felt in the community. The family recently established the Ross Foundation Memorial Fund, which received a $ 10,000 contribution earlier this year from GM. To date, almost $20,000 has been raised by the foundation to support a number of community projects including academic scholarships.

Between the recently completed expansion projects and the move toward Internet sales, Ross is certain the business she and her husband started will thrive. "Bob has good machinery in place here. So our efforts have been at maintaining the excellent customer service that we've historically provided. So far that's been working," she says. "He would be proud of the way the business has survived."

Valerie Daniels-Carter

Founder, President and CEO of V&J Foods Inc.

Glance at Valerie DanielsCarter's resume too swiftly, and you might assume she'd inexplicably fallen on hard times. How else to explain a dramatic career shift that finds the former banker and financial analyst flipping all-beef patties behind a flaming hot grill at Burger King?

Well, the transition isn't alarming when you own the Burger King. And if on rare occasions you find Daniels-Carter behind that grill, it's only because she likes having hands-on experience in every aspect of her business. As president and CEO of Milwaukee-based V&J Holding Companies, Daniels-Carter is the leading African American woman fast-food franchiser in the country.

Daniels-Carter says the transition from finance to franchising was in the cards for her all along. Receiving a B.A. in business administration from Lincoln University in 1978, Daniels-Carter joined First Wisconsin National Bank as a management trainee and worked for several years as a commercial and retail lender. In 1981, she became an auditor in the underwriting division for MGIC Investment Corp. in Milwaukee and appeared set to make her mark in banking.

Instead, in 1984 she made a leap of faith, leaving a steady career with banker's hours for a life in franchising. Her gamble paid off in a big way. Daniels-Carter started V&J Foods with her brother, John Daniels Jr., who today is a financial partner in the company. She oversees administrative functions at V&J, all the while keeping an eye out for additional expansion and development opportunities. But whether she's attending franchisee meetings with corporate bigwigs or working on new promotional items for her restaurants, Daniels-Carter has made customer service the signature mark of all her franchises. And her company's motto is "YATSE" (You Are The Standard of Excellence).

"I try to get each person that works for me to realize this company is only as good as each individual," she says. "The key for me is to instill in them a pride in their work and recognition of a level of excellence in themselves that maybe they weren't aware of."

Rodney Henderson, a manager for one of Daniels-Carter's Milwaukee restaurants since 1987, describes her as both a sympathetic and concerned employer. "I've seen other managers come to Valerie distressed over personal problems, and she'll take time out of her day to console or counsel them. She's been an employee, so she has a lot of empathy for the people that work for her," Henderson says. He says she also gives her managers freedom to make decisions about their individual restaurants. "She'll give us a lot of leeway to make calls about what happens in our restaurants. Sometimes she'll do it even if she doesn't agree with it just to make a point," he laughs.

Daniels-Carter says that before making the jump into franchising she and her brother looked into a number of opportunities, including retail ventures, manufacturing and co-branding ideas. But "at the end of the day, I really wanted to focus on things that would be long term. And with fast-food opportunities, you know people are always going to eat," she chuckles.

At the time, Burger King had been unsuccessful in saturating the Wisconsin urban marketplace, so Daniels-Carter saw an opportunity for growth. "I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. But I wanted to first work in corporate America to get the experience in finance and banking I knew I'd need because that's the bloodline of franchising."

After entering a Burger King training program in 1984, she and her brother formed V&J Foods and purchased a Burger King restaurant in Milwaukee. In the years since, she's grown the business at an impressive pace, with 37 Burger King restaurants throughout Wisconsin and Michigan.

But that only whetted her appetite, so to speak. Daniels Carter was anxious to spread her wings and have a more diverse product base. Then, in 1997 she may well have pulled off the franchise deal of the year when V&J acquired 61 Pizza Hut restaurants in Rochester and Syracuse, New York. The new deal not only considerably increased the company's employee base from 1,385 to 2,400, but with the one-two punch of Burger King and Pizza Hut (a total of 98 restaurants), V&J is now poised to grab an even greater share of the fast-food market.

"Since we wanted to diversify, the Pizza Hut acquisitions made sense," says Daniels-Carter. "We only wanted to be with corporations that are leaders in their industry. Pizza Hut was in the process of spinning off company restaurants, and I felt its brand had a strong, bright future." Indeed, that transaction doubled V&J's annual sales from $35 million to $70 million, boosting it 30 spots up the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list, from No. 58 to No. 28.

Leading one of the country's most thriving franchises, Daniels-carter shows that black women can flourish in running their own businesses. And now that she's blazing a trail, what words of advice does she have for aspiring entrepreneurs? "You have to have a true understanding of the industry you're entering. And you have to surround yourself with a circle of key advisors, accountants, attorneys and counselors. They have to be there to give you advice even when you don't want it," she says.

Yet even now, despite Daniels-Carter's many successes, being a double minority in the world of fast-food franchising isn't lost on her. "I know there's a ton of racism. But I see this as an opportunity to show how a strong and vibrant black female can make it in a business dominated by white males for so long," she says. "Burger King and Pizza Hut are not afraid to present women with that opportunity. And I haven't been afraid to take full advantage of that."

Geralda Dodd CEO of Thomas Madison Inc.

Ask Geralda Dodd what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she'll tell you she had her heart set on being a schoolteacher. She had an idyllic notion of shaping the minds of tomorrow. In fact, Dodd took several teaching courses at the University of Toledo and did some student tutoring for a while. "But it didn't take too much of that to change my mind about teaching," she laughs.

Today Dodd is a CEO in one of the unlikeliest fields of all. She heads Thomas Madison Inc. (TMI), one of the largest black-owned steel and metal stamping companies in the country. Dodd, 41, virtually fell into the business, starting out as a 21-year-old receptionist with Heidtman Steel in Toledo, Ohio. What began as a temporary position taking messages developed into an unexpected career turn. "I always thought I'd own my own business," she says. "But it never occurred to me it would be in this industry. I just got bit by the steel bug."

Dodd says it was a natural progression as she started asking for greater responsibilities and was soon introduced to other aspects of the business. "I tried to absorb everything I could because I was so very hungry to learn about business." Dodd went from working the phones into the belly of the steel company's inventory control area. After proving her mettle there, she was named inventory control manager before moving over to the purchasing department. Several promotions later, she was appointed director of purchasing and eventually vice president of purchasing. That's when she received a unique proposal.

In October 1990, John Bates, president of Heidtman Steel, approached Dodd about starting a joint venture called Integrated Steel (IS), in which she would own majority interest. Her equity contribution to the deal was $30,000. IS functioned as a broker of steel products until April 1991, when it moved into its own facility in Detroit and became a metal stamping firm.

Today IS is just one component of TMI. The other arms include HS Automotive, which does heavy-gauge metal stamping and designs; HSA II, which produces light- to medium-gauge parts and brake components; and S&S Cartage, a transportation company that allows Dodd to haul her steel coils wherever necessary.

Much like her fellow BE 100s CEO and steel industry counterpart David Bing of the Bing Group (No. 5 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list), Dodd has now positioned a number of companies to support her main enterprise, TMI. "The key is to try and have an organization that appears seamless to our customers. Each company is independent and has a separate function. But they all operate to the overall benefit of Thomas Madison," she says.

Yet despite her success, Dodd is frank in saying her race and gender have played a role in how she's been received in the steel industry. "It's definitely a negative. And more so because I'm a woman than because I'm black. In this industry there are still a lot of `good ol' boys' of both colors," she says. "I think it's an issue of comfort and men not knowing how to deal with us. Women in this field simply make men nervous."

But at least one of her peers marvels at what Dodd has accomplished. "As difficult as it is for African American men to get a foothold in the steel industry, it's almost unheard of for an African American female," says Bing, who describes his relationship with Dodd as one of friendly competitors. "For her to decide to go into a field that for so long has been dominated by white males was a major commitment on her part. She's a true pioneer."

And thus far, Dodd has made all the right moves. Her roster of clients includes GM, Ford and Chrysler. Consequently, TMI is a perennial top performer. With 1997 revenues of $90 million, it is No. 20 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list.

With such success comes attention from all fronts and the label as a role model for Dodd. It's a tag she initially resisted. "At first I was uneasy because as a role model the perception is, everything that comes out of your mouth is supposed to be profound and I wasn't comfortable with that," she says. "But now I realize I have to be a role model. It's my responsibility to people of color and those of noncolor because they need to know black women can succeed at anything and everything."

Making an Impact

RANK    COMPANY                         LOCATION

INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES

1       TLC Beatrice International      New York
          Holdings Inc.
18      Soft Sheen Products Inc.        Illinois
20      Thomas Madison Inc.             Michigan
28      V&J Foods                       Wisconsin
63      Management Technology Inc.      Maryland
TOTAL

AUTO DEALERS

23      Bob Ross Buick Inc.             Ohio
54      Rodgers Chevrolet               Michigan
79      Huntsville Dodge Inc.           Alabama
TOTAL

ADVERTISING AGENCIES

6       Carol H. Williams Advertising   California
12      Caroline Jones Inc.             New York
TOTAL

                                   YEAR
RANK     CEO                      STARTED    STAFF      SALES(*)

1        Loida N. Lewis             1987      4,500     1,400.000
18       Terri L. Gardner           1964        395        95.000
20       Geralda Dodd               1990        650        90.000
28       Valerie Daniels-Carter     1984      2,400        70.000
63       Pauline C. Brooks          1985        620        33.549
TOTAL                                         8,565     1,688.549

23       Norma J. Ross              1974      126          66.785
54       Pamela Rodgers             1993       50          37.194
79       Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst    1911       43          25.309
TOTAL                                         219         129.288

6        Carol H. Williams          1988      24           48.500
12       Caroline R. Jones          1986      12           15.000
                                              36           63.500

RANK               COMPANY                LOCATION

BANKS
11        Mechanis & Farmers Banks        North Carolina
14        Illinois Service Federal        Illinois
          S&L Association
15        United Bank of Philadelphia     Pennsylvania
25        Peoples National Bank           Florida
           of Commerce

                               YEAR
RANK         CEO              STARTED       STAFF     ASSETS(*)

BANKS
11         Julia W. Taylor      1908          78       130.900
14         Thelma J. Smith      1934          45       109.672
15         Emma C. Chappell     1992          80       108.914
25         Rachel Reeves        1992          32        53.093

TOTAL                                        235       402.579

(*) In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand. As of 12/31/97.