From the very first day Ronald C.Parker stepped foot into his new role as CEO of the Executive Leadership Council in 2012, he made it clear that his plans for the organization were ambitious.
With over 600 current members in ELC, Parker plans to expand the organization’s presence by extending membership beyond those associated with Fortune 500 companies to include entrepreneurs as well as black leaders abroad.
In June of this year, ELC members were invited by Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity to co-host a series of events on leadership development in London to commemorate the Alpha Boulé. Meeting with global business leaders of the African diaspora, Parker said the organization’s visit to London was one of many international visits to come, as they take the discussion of corporate board diversity beyond the walls of America.
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The fight to make ELC a globally-recognized organization is one of many goals on the former PepsiCo executive’s list as he grows ELC to not only be an organization that pushes for diversity in C-Suite and executive level positions, but one that also puts forth effort to train the next generation of black professionals for leadership positions.
BlackEnterprise.com: What is the value of taking the discussion of global diversity abroad, and what was the objective of your recent trip to London?
Parker: The trip to London was based on outreach from several black executives who are a part of the Boule. One of the initiatives inside of ELC is to expand our footprint globally. We had just finished meeting in Toronto, Canada, and saw it as a wonderful opportunity to partner with another brand and use it as a chance to connect with other black executives from the African diaspora who are based in London. We had over 150 black executives from global enterprises to join us for several sessions, talking about board diversity as it relates to Europe. They have a 30% coalition effort to place more women on boards in the United Kingdom and it was important for us to partner with the Institute of Directors (IOD), which is a London-based organization that works with companies to assist placing more women on publicly traded boards in the UK. Our goal there was to meet with them to show readiness, capability, and access to another pool of talent; meaning our ELC members, who should be up for board consideration at London companies.
In addition to expanding the organization globally, what is ELC doing to ensure they are also positioning black millennials to move into these leadership positions?
We are in our 21st year with investing in the next generation of leaders with our Mid-Level Managers Symposium, which has leading sponsors by Target and Pepsi Co. For the last 21 years, we have touched over 18,000 young middle management and millennials, and showed them what’s required for them to be successful in the 21st century. We also just released a white paper called  “21st Century Global Leadership†in partnership with Price Waterhouse Cooper, and will be talking about that particular document in our upcoming CEO summit. In that
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Speaking of millennials, do you feel African Americans who sit on corporate boards today have an obligation to push for greater diversity and advocate on behalf of the next generation of black leaders?
Yes, they do have an obligation and if not them then who, and if not now, then when. As a diverse leader who brings a unique perspective in the areas of where investments will be made, in the areas of where [the] talent pipeline will be discussed, it is the role of that black board member and all board members to ensure that the concept of inclusion and diversity is reflected in the strategies of that company. Also, as they contribute to the success of that organization it is courageous of any black leader, or any leader, to realize that when their time has come to step aside and not seek re-election, that they provide the nominating board of that committee with [the] names of individuals who are black and other diverse candidates who will bring that unique perspective to the board conversation.
With ELC expanding its membership beyond those from Fortune 500 companies to also include entrepreneurs, what is the organization doing to increase supplier diversity and ensure that these entrepreneurs are growing from a revenue standpoint?
As we are having these conversations through corporate board initiatives, our objective is to add 200 black executives to publicly traded boards over the next 3-5 years. We are also challenging the boards our members sit on to not only look at representation of C-Suite and pipeline talent, but to also make sure women and minority-owned firms are given the opportunity to compete and bid on the use of their goods and services. As we move forward with the possibility to have exchange with investors in Africa, we are also working to see if they can invest in and provide opportunities to companies here in the states.
In short, what is the overall impact you want ELC to have within the next five years?
[We want] to increase the number of black executives at global enterprises, and to invest in their continued growth and development wherever they may reside in their career cycle. One reason we went from Fortune 500 to Global 1000 is because we are seeing growth and discovering a lot of members have already entered into the world of private equity, and we want to give them opportunities to be owners in mid cap areas and opportunities to be board members and advisors of those companies as they matriculate to become a part of the Fortune 500 group. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating value. If we create value in the organizations we are a part of we hope they will reflect the value of inclusion.