ERNESTA PROCOPE

FOUNDER & CEO E.G. BOWMAN CO.

Dubbed “The First Lady of Wall Street,” by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Procope was founder and CEO of E. G. Bowman Inc., the first and largest minority-owned insurance brokerage in New York’s financial district. Her influence extended to board directorships with Avon Products and Chubb Insurance at a time when only a handful of black women could be found in the boardrooms of the nation’s largest companies. Moreover, Procope proved effective in persuading New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to support legislation to enact the New York FAIR Plan to guarantee the availability of homeowners insurance in low-income neighborhoods. As a result, 26 other states passed similar legislation.

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