Straight Talk from the Top

On Workplace Diversity

Collected CEO Interviews: 1988 to 2009

The following interviews are collected from a number of our past conversations with the men and women at the head of major employer organizations – corporate and public alike. Many were originally released through a series, "Straight Talk from the Top," specifically focused on executives’ plans to diversify their workplaces and the recognition of early “Diversity Trailblazers” working for those organizations.

Conducted over decades, mostly from the 1980s through 2010, the interviews sampled here, viewed together, illustrate the evolving notions and challenges of workforce diversity over time. They also provide insight into how many employers – some of them at the very top of today’s diversity recognition lists – set out proactively, strategically, to reach their diversity goals long ago.

General Motors, Robert Stempel

Eastman Kodak, Kay Whitmore

Amoco Corporation, Richard Morrow

Ryder, M. Anthony Burns

Merck, Dr. P. Roy Vagelos

Bellcore, Rocco J. Marano

Dow Chemical Company, Frank Popoff

Reebok International, Paul Fireman

Phillips Petroleum Company, C.J. Silas

Eli Lilly, Richard D. Wood

Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Dean R. O’Hare

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Gary Countryman

Corning, Inc., James Houghton

SmithKline Beecham, Robert P. Bauman

USDA Forest Service, F. Dale Robertson

Aerospace Corporation, Edward C. “Pete” Aldridge, Jr.

General Mills, H. Brewster Atwater

United Technologies, George David

Aerospace Corporation, Dr. William F. Ballhaus, Jr.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Andy Taylor

State Farm Insurance, Vincent J. Trosino, Sr.

Entergy, Roderick West

Aerospace Corporation, Dr. Wanda M. Austin

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