By: Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
As the world watches the peaceful transition of power in Washington, I want to tell you about another peaceful transition you may not be aware of — which is big news in corporate America. After nearly a decade of leadership, on January 1 the first African American Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Inc. stepped down to begin another chapter in an already rich life of accomplishment and service.
Richard D. Parsons may not be a household name, but if you have ever read Essence, Time or People Magazine, watched a Warner Bros. movie, tuned into CNN, HBO or TNT, logged onto AOL, or viewed a TV show on Time Warner Cable, you have been touched by the genius and vision of this remarkable man. In an era where Black entertainers, rappers and athletes have been the dominant role-models for our youth, Dick Parsons quietly rose to become leader of the world's largest media company and one of only a handful of African Americans ever to head a Fortune 50 company. In its January 2005 report on America's best CEOs, Institutional Investor Magazine named Dick Parsons the top CEO in the entertainment industry. But even more impressive than his groundbreaking corporate success has been Parsons' lifelong commitment to community service.
Born and raised in the working class neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, Dick Parsons graduated from the University of Hawaii and Albany Law School. He began his career in the early 70's as a legal counselor to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. When Rockefeller became Vice President in 1974, Parsons joined him as a domestic policy advisor in the Gerald Ford White House. He returned to New York in 1977 to become a partner at the Law Firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. In 1988, Parsons became CEO of Dime Bank where he engineered a remarkable rescue for the troubled financial institution. He joined the Time Warner board in 1991, became CEO in 2002, and Chairman of the Board in 2003. Parsons is credited with leading an extraordinary turnaround for the company after its rocky merger with AOL in 2000.
But even as he made his mark in the highest echelons of American business, Dick Parsons never forgot his roots. Whether mentoring students and young executives, serving as Chairman of the Apollo Theater Foundation, or as a Howard University board member, Parsons has been a powerful force for positive change in our communities. He has also committed a significant amount of Time Warner's philanthropic resources to helping struggling artists and improving the quality of education in New York's public schools. For these and so many other reasons, I was proud to present Dick Parsons the National Urban League Leadership Award at our 2008 Equal Opportunity Awards Dinner in New York.
Dick Parsons has not shared his future plans with us, but as that rare CEO who is leaving on his own terms and as a member of Barack Obama's economic advisory team, I have no doubt he will continue to be a role model for us all. All the best, Dick.
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