Fortune 500 List Features Record 11 Black CEOs

The Fortune 500, the annual ranking of America’s largest companies by revenue, is one of the most closely watched measures of corporate success. Collectively, these companies account for approximately two-thirds of U.S. GDP.

Yet since the Fortune 500 list was created in 1955, only a handful of Black executives have ever served as CEOs of these top-tier companies. This year’s list set a record: for the first time, 11 Black executives are running companies on the list. Together, they oversee some of the country’s most influential enterprises.

From the utility company powering millions of American homes to the financial institution managing trillions in retirement assets, here’s a closer look at the Black Fortune 500 CEOs.

1. Calvin Butler

Calvin Butler is the president and CEO of Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company by customer count. Exelon serves 10.5 million electric and gas customers across six states and the District of Columbia. Before he was appointed CEO in 2022, he previously served as president and chief operating officer and the CEO of Baltimore Gas and Electric for 5 years. 

Butler holds a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University and a Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. Before joining Exelon in 2009, he held senior leadership roles at R.R. Donnelley. During his early career, he worked at Central Illinois Light Company, working in government affairs, legal, and strategy

2. Dave Bozeman

Dave Bozeman is president, CEO, and a board member of C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s largest third-party logistics platforms and freight brokerage companies. Over his career, he has accumulated over 30 years of experience in supply chains, middle-mile transportation, manufacturing, and digital commerce. 

Bozeman holds an MS in engineering management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and a BS in manufacturing design from Bradley University. He has served as vice president of Ford’s Customer Service Division. Before that, as vice president of Amazon Transportation Services, he built out and scaled the company’s global middle-mile transportation business. When he joined C.H. Robinson as CEO in 2023, he became the ninth Black executive on the Fortune 500 list. 

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3. Thasunda Brown Duckett

Thasunda Brown Duckett serves as president and CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA). Founded in 1918, TIAA is one of the largest retirement plan providers in the United States. Her appointment in 2021 made her the fourth Black woman in history to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Duckett earned her undergraduate degree in finance and marketing from the University of Houston and her MBA from Baylor University. Early in her career, she led national strategies to increase homeownership among Black and Hispanic Americans at Fannie Mae, before spending 17 years at JPMorgan Chase.

In addition to her role as CEO of TIAA, Duckett serves on the boards of directors of Nike, Brex Inc., and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, among other organizations.

4. Peter Akwaboah

Peter Akwaboah serves as Fannie Mae’s interim CEO and chief operating officer. He has more than 30 years of leadership experience in finance, real estate technology, and banking. His expertise is crucial at Fannie Mae – the Federal National Mortgage Association, which manages more than $4 trillion in assets. 

Akwaboah was elevated from his role as Fannie Mae’s executive vice president and COO after the departure of outgoing President and CEO Priscilla Almodovar, while the company searches for a permanent CEO. 

Before joining Fannie Mae, Akwaboah spent years at Morgan Stanley, serving as its COO for global technology and head of innovation. He also spent a decade at the Royal Bank of Scotland as its Asia-Pacific COO for operations, technology, and corporate services.

5. Marvin Ellison

Marvin Ellison stands out on this list as the only African American to serve as chairman and CEO of two Fortune 500 companies. Currently, he is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Lowe’s. Lowe’s is a home improvement retailer with more than 1,700 stores and roughly 300,000 employees across the U.S. Before joining Lowe’s in 2018, Ellison also served as chairman and CEO of JCPenney. 

Ellison’s story is particularly motivational; he was born in rural Tennessee in a family of sharecroppers. His earliest jobs included being a janitor, truck driver, and convenience store clerk before he earned his business degree. He later completed an executive MBA at Emory University. Ellison served as the director of Target for 15 years, then as EVP Stores at The Home Depot for 12 years, before moving to JCPenney. 

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6. Michael Bender

Michael Bender was unanimously appointed CEO of Kohl’s by its board in November 2025, having served as interim CEO since May 2025. He already had an intimate understanding of the company, having served as a director on the Kohl’s board since 2019. 

Bender began his career at PepsiCo, where for over 13 years he held a series of positions in sales, operations, finance, and strategy. In the next 17 years, he worked across major retail and consumer brands, including Walmart, Victoria’s Secret, and Eyemart Express. At Walmart, he served as COO of global e-commerce and executive vice president and president of the Walmart West business unit. At Eyemart Express, he was president and CEO from 2018 to 2022.

7. Frederick Lowery 

The latest appointee to a Fortune 500 company is Frederick Lowery, who was named CEO of Henry Schein in 2026. Henry Schein is the world’s largest provider of healthcare solutions to office-based dental and medical professionals. With over two decades of expertise in healthcare, Lowery was perfect for the position. 

A Knoxville native, Lowery attended Tennessee Technological University on a football scholarship and has credited his engineering education with influencing his leadership philosophy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Tech and a master’s in manufacturing management from Kettering University. He most recently served as executive vice president and president of laboratory products and bioproduction at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he led the Fisher Scientific distribution channel. Before that, he held leadership roles at Maytag Corporation and General Motors.

8. Joi Harris

Joi Harris’ appointment as DTE Energy’s first female CEO was decades in the making. Her career at DTE began as a high school engineering co-op. Next, Harris pursued both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wayne State University.

By 1991, she was a full-time DTE Energy employee. Over the 34 years that followed, she held leadership roles across distribution field operations, system control, and transmission before serving as DTE Gas president and COO. Her appointment as CEO followed a multi-year succession plan and was approved unanimously by DTE’s board.

Harris was a key architect of the company’s increased investment in its electric grid, resulting in a year-over-year 70% improvement in electric reliability in 2024. 

Related post: Nine Black CEOs Who Built Venture-Backed Companies That Went Public

9. David Rawlinson II 

David Rawlinson II became president and CEO of QVC Group in 2021. QVC Group consists of six retail brands: QVC, HSN, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, and Grandin Road.

He joined QVC Group from NielsenIQ, where he served as CEO. Before that, he was president of Grainger Global Online, the fastest-growing standalone division of W.W. Grainger. He also served as a White House Fellow under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, including as a senior advisor for economic policy at the White House National Economic Council.

Rawlinson holds a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is a graduate of The Citadel.

10. Chris Womack

Chris Womack is the chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company, another gas and electric utility company on the Fortune 500 list. They serve 9 million customers across six states through their subsidiaries. Womack was appointed CEO of Southern Company in 2023 after spending 35 years in senior executive roles across the organization. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree in public administration from American University. Before assuming his current role, Womack served as chairman, president, and CEO of Georgia Power, Southern Company’s largest subsidiary. There, he oversaw the completion of a landmark hydrogen fuel blend test. Before joining Southern Company, he worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to former Congressman Leon Panetta.

11. René F. Jones

René F. Jones is the Chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, a community-focused banking franchise with more than $211 billion in assets and a network of over 1,000 branches across the eastern U.S.

Jones earned a BS in management science from Boston College and an MBA from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business. He began his professional life at the Boston office of Ernst & Young, serving clients across industries with a primary focus on financial services, before moving to a private equity firm.

He joined M&T Bank in 1992 as an executive associate, was named to the management committee in 2005, and became CFO that same year. Next, he was elevated to vice chairman in 2014, then appointed chairman and CEO in 2017. Since taking the top role, the company has nearly doubled its total assets, becoming the 11th-largest U.S.-based bank.