Earl Graves

Earl G. Graves is a nationally recognized authority on black business development and the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, a widely-read business service publication targeted to black professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and policy makers in the public and private sector. He also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Earl G. Graves, Ltd., parent corporation of the Earl G. Graves Publishing Company.

Graves has made history as one of the most profitable and enterprising black businessmen. Early on in his career, he was named one of the ten most outstanding minority businessmen in the country by the President of the United States, and received the National Award of Excellence in recognition of his achievements in minority business enterprise. He is also listed in Who's Who in America, and in 1974, was named one of Time Magazine's 200 future leaders of the country. Decades later, he was named as one of the 50 most powerful and influential African Americans in corporate America by Fortune Magazine in 2002.

Graves has served as a Director of Aetna, Inc., AMR Corporation (American Airlines), DaimlerChrysler AG Corporation, Federated Department Stores, Inc., and Rohm & Haas Corporation. In addition, he has serves as a volunteer on the boards of TransAfrica Inc. and the American Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Pepsi-Cola of Washington, D.C., the largest minority-controlled Pepsi-Cola franchise in the United States. He acquired the $60 million franchise in 1990 and eventually sold it back to the parent company and where he continues to be Chairman of Pepsi's Customer Advisory and Ethnic Marketing Committee.

Graves is a staunch advocate of higher education and equal opportunity. In recognition of his support of entrepreneurial education and his many years of contributing to Morgan State University, including a $1 million gift to advance business education, the University renamed its school of business and management, the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. He is a trustee of Howard University, the Committee for Economic Development, the Special Contributions Fund of the NAACP and the New York Economic Club. He is also the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal business bestseller, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White, which chronicles the success strategies of America’s premier African American businessman.

During the span of his business and professional careers, Graves has received numerous awards and honors for his outstanding business leadership and community service. In 1998, he received the Marietta Tree Award for Public Service from the Citizens Committee for New York City, Inc.; the Charles Evans Hughes Gold Medal Award from The National Conference for Community and Justice; the Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce; and the Merrick-Moore Spaulding National Achievement Award at the 100th Anniversary celebration of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, among others. In 1995, he was named New York City Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, and was also inducted into the National Sales Hall of Fame by the Association of Sales and Marketing Executives.

Politically astute, Graves served as Administrative Assistant to the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy from 1965 to 1968. After Senator Kennedy's assassination, he formed his own management consulting firm to advise corporations on urban affairs and economic development, beginning his career in business.