Black History Month, February, is a time to acknowledge the hurdles and achievements of African Americans throughout the history of the United States. Read more as we highlight ten remarkable Black Leaders that courageously broke through barriers in the finance industry.
Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934)
“Let us put our money together; let us use our money; let us put our money out at usury among ourselves and reap the benefit ourselves.”
Maggie Lena Walker was the first black woman to establish herself as the president of an American bank. Born in Richmond, Virginia, on July 15, 1864, to enslaved parents, she embodied the entrepreneurial spirit as a young girl. At 14, she joined the Independent Order of St. Luke’s, an African American benevolent organization, slowly climbing the ranks. She began publishing the organization’s newspaper, St. Luke Herald in 1902.
A year later, Walker opened the doors to her bank—St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, after receiving funding from the Order of St. Luke’s. Her bank stood as a powerful representation of the self-reliance of the Black community living within the segregated south.
After the Great Depression, while other banks collapsed, the Penny Savings Bank continued to thrive, spreading to neighboring parts of Virginia and growing to include more than 50,000 members. In 1930, her bank was renamed Consolidated Bank & Trust after merging with two smaller Black-owned banks. Walker chaired the board of directors. The bank still operates today, cementing its place in history as the oldest continuously utilized African American-owned bank in the U.S.
Alonzo Herndon (1858-1927)
“I just find that our history holds many lessons that have been forgotten and the models of the past can be used to address issues today.”
In 1905, Alonzo Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, still regarded as one of America’s most prominent Black institutions. Once a former slave in Social Circle, he set out for a better life, eventually becoming Atlanta’s first African American millionaire.
As a young man, he mastered the trade of barbering, eventually opening a shop of his own called Crystal Palace in Atlanta. His shop catapulted him to instant success, allowing him to cater to the most influential figures in the state, earning their respect and goodwill. As his earnings grew, it afforded him the capital to invest in real estate in Atlanta and Florida, acquire more than 100 houses, a large block of commercial property on Auburn Avenue, and a sprawling estate in Tavares, Florida. At his death in 1927, his real estate was estimated to be worth $325,000, the purchasing power of about $5,207,508.62, today.
Rianka R. Dorsainvil and Lazetta Rainey Braxton
“America is no longer a “melting pot” where immigrants and first-generation Americans are expected to assimilate; no, America is a mosaic where we must appreciate and accept various cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds.” Rianka R. Dorsainvil
Rianka R. Dorsainvil, CFP® and Lazetta Rainey Braxton MBA, CFP® are the Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of 2050 Wealth Partners, an online financial planning and wealth management firm.
Rianka R. Dorsainvil, CFP®, is a published author, podcaster, seasoned analyst, and a member of CNBC’s Digital Financial Advisor Council and CFP Board’s Diversity Advisory Group. She’s a popular contributor, with articles published in Black Enterprise, CNBC, Financial Advisor, and ThinkAdvisor among many others. Dorsainvil launched her podcast, 2050 TrailBlazers (https://www.2050trailblazers.com/), which regularly features industry experts and aims at diversifying the industry of financial planning.
Lazetta Rainey Braxton, CFP®, is a financial expert who’s dedicated herself to the mission of making quality financial planning tools accessible to everyone. She’s a seasoned financial commentator, frequently featured on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Nightly Business Report, and CNBC’s Closing Bell. She’s a CNBC Digital Financial Advisor Council member and a regular contributor to the WSJ Experts blog.
Carla Harris
“One of the key components of your mistake recovery strategy is to just stop, learn, get rid of the emotion and the feeling of shame and burden, and move on.”
Working in the financial industry for over 30 years, Carla Harris now holds a top position as Vice Chairman, Managing Director, and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley. She received her MBA and A.B. in economics from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
For more than a decade, Harris worked as a senior member of the equity syndicate desk, leading transactions including initial public offerings for UPS, Ariba, and the $3.2 billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation— one of the largest biotechnology common stock transactions in U.S. history.
Harold Butler
“Everybody needs to get on the bandwagon — it has to be more than just Citi”
As the Managing director in Citigroup Inc.’s public sector group, Harold Butler has two jobs at Citigroup: To provide direct oversight and run the lender’s business with the U.S. government, including the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, and the second, to teach minority-focused banks the interworking’s of underwriting bigger commercial loans, sending them in the right direction to qualify for government contracts.
Keith Canton
“Where we, on Wall Street, collectively have fallen short is in retaining and promoting that talent over time,” he said. “The talent base is there, and we need to do a better job of fostering it and giving it the opportunity to develop and grow. Increasing the senior-level representation is just going to take time.”
In 2015, JPMorgan hired Canton as the Global Head of Private Capital Markets, with plans to establish the sector from scratch. Since then, his team has worked with global organizations such as Peloton Interactive Inc. and Strava Inc to structure their private financing, raising over $30 billion for companies last year alone. Born and raised in New York, Canton credits his success to his involvement in the Oliver Scholars Program, helping ambitious young black and Latino students enrolled in New York City public schools. The program prepares young scholars for academic excellence, charting a path to attend the country’s top private and ivy league universities, which he’s now on the board.
Alice Vilma
“There’s an age-old saying, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’ I think some of it is a perception issue. So being able to see representation of not one, not two, not three, but 10 or 15, 20, 200 matters,” she said. The goal should be to reach a point where “promoting someone of color isn’t necessarily seen as an anomaly or an exception, but just par for the course.”
Alice Vilma is the Co-head of Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab. She also co-runs a startup accelerator focused on helping women and disenfranchised groups rapidly expand their businesses and secure funding from Morgan Stanley and other investors. Although she didn’t initially set out to have a banking career, her original plans included becoming a corporate attorney—but all that changed when she accepted a Morgan Stanley internship in 1998, quickly climbing the ranks to her current leadership role of managing director.
John W. Rogers, Jr.
“Become that rare person where people know that your word is your bond and you’re going to do exactly what you say you’re going to do.”
John W. Rogers, Jr., is the founder, Chairman, Co-CEO, and Chief Investment Officer of Ariel Investments. In 2021, his company had $18.3 billion in assets under management, making it the *largest minority-run mutual fund firm* in the United States. He sits on the Board of Directors of high-ranking companies, including McDonald’s Corporation and Nike, Inc.
After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in Economics, he worked as a stockbroker for several years at William Blair. He founded Ariel Investments in 1983, specializing in value investing in small- and medium-sized companies.
In 2008, Rodgers received the Woodrow Wilson Award, Princeton University’s highest honor.
Robert F. Smith
“The most important thing you can do as a young person is to become an expert. There is no substitute for becoming the best at your craft.”
Smith is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners and currently holds the title of wealthiest Black investor. According to Forbes, his net worth is estimated at $6.7 billion (as of Jan. 31, 2022). Smith founded the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners in 2000, which focused exclusively on investing in software companies. Today, Vista has accumulated over $50 billion in assets, solidifying itself as one of the highest-performing private equity firms in the country and posting annualized returns of 22% since first opening its doors.
Reginald F. Lewis
“Keep going to build a better society in America. To be a compassionate America…Keep going, no matter what.”
As a graduate of Harvard Law school, he spent the first several years of his career practicing corporate law at a prestigious New York City law firms. In 1983, Reginald F. Lewis Lewis established the TLC Group, L.P. His first successful venture was the $22.5 million leveraged buyouts of McCall Pattern Company, a struggling business in a declining industry. After selling off the company in 1987, Reginald Lewis went on to outbid huge firms and acquire Beatrice Foods. By 1992, the newly renamed, TLC Beatrice International became the first Black-owned business to generate a billion dollars in annual sales.
