ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997 TAG: 9702280064
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
American Express Co. named Kenneth I. Chenault president and chief operating officer, marking the first public anointment of a black executive to run one of the country's biggest companies.
In an unusually forward-looking statement Thursday, Harvey Golub, the company's chairman and chief executive, said Chenault was his choice for successor when Golub retires in seven years at age 65.
``This move clearly recognizes Ken as the number-two executive in the company and the primary internal candidate to succeed me when the time comes,'' Golub said in a letter to the company's employees.
Chenault, 45, would be the first black to take control of a company the size of American Express, which Fortune magazine ranks as the 65th largest in the country, based on annual revenue.
None of the country's top 100 companies has a black chief executive. The only other black president of a major company is Richard Parsons at Time Warner Inc.
But Time Warner is half the size, with $8 billion in revenue in 1996 compared with American Express's $15.8 billion. And Parsons has not been identified as a likely successor to Time Warner chief Gerald Levin, and could be considered to be behind Ted Turner.
Customers of service companies like American Express have come to expect more diversity in executive suites, said John Nash, chief executive of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Also, public officials who run big pension funds for government employees have also been pushing for change, he said.
In a telephone interview, Chenault said that while ``it would obviously be naive and untrue to say that race is not a factor in our society ... at American Express, I have been totally judged on my performance'' since joining the firm in 1981 as director of strategic planning.
Chenault, who holds a degree from Harvard Law School, rose through the ranks to run the company's consumer card group. He became president of American Express Travel Related Services in 1993.
Chenault said he aims to increase American Express' charge-card market share, which he said reversed a decade-long drop last year.
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Chenaultby CNB