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Starbucks Names Mellody Hobson Board Head, Making Her Only Black Female Chair Of S&P 500 Company

This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Dec 10, 2020, 11:57am EST

Topline

Starbucks will promote board Vice-Chair Mellody Hobson to chair in March, replacing the retiring Myron “Mike” Ullman, which will make her the only Black woman to lead the board of directors for an S&P 500 company, according to Bloomberg. 

Key Facts

Hobson, who is the co-CEO of the asset management firm Ariel Investments, has been on the board since 2005 and ascended to the vice-chair role in 2018.

Key Background

Following a push for board diversity, last year, for the first time, all S&P 500 companies had a female board member. Women occupy just 21.2% of S&P 500 board member seats in 2020, according to the research firm Catalyst. Just 15 S&P 500 companies have a female chair, among the companies in which the CEO does not hold the top role, according to Bloomberg.

Tangent

In October, Hobson donated money to establish a residential college at her alma mater, Princeton University. The college will be the first at Princeton to be named for a Black woman.

Surprising Fact

Hobson was on the Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list this year. 

Further Reading

Starbucks Announces the Appointment of Mellody Hobson as Non-Executive Chair of the Board

Starbucks Names Hobson Chair in Gain for Black Directors

From MacKenzie Scott To ByteDance’s Kelly Zhang: Meet The Newcomers On The World’s Most Powerful Women List 2020 (Forbes)

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