Location: Atlanta GA

Alexis M. Herman

  • September 29th, 2022

The Honorable Alexis Herman has made her mark as one of the most accomplished women to ever emerge from Alabama. A social worker, politician, and entrepreneur, Herman now works as chair and CEO of New Ventures, LLC, a corporate consulting company, and serves on the boards of directors for several major companies. She also chairs the Diversity Advisory Board for the Toyota Motor Company.

Born in Mobile in 1947 to a schoolteacher mother and an entrepreneur/politician father, Herman saw the effects of Jim Crow firsthand. Her parents, who were devout Catholics, sent her to parochial schools that were still segregated at the time. As a girl, Herman witnessed the impact of segregation on her community, and this sparked a passion in her for social justice and activism. As a sophomore in high school, she questioned the archdiocese’s practice of excluding Black students from full participation in religious pageants and placing them at the rear of religious gatherings. This resulted in her suspension from school. However, she was readmitted when Black parents protested. More importantly, the ultimate result was the desegregation of the Mobile Parochial School System the following year.

After earning a degree in sociology from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1969, Herman devoted herself to social work, returning to Mobile to help desegregate public schools. She began her career as a social worker helping young men gain admittance to apprenticeships in the Pascagoula, Mississippi shipyard. Because of her passion and success in placing the first minority males in apprenticeship jobs, she was asked to move to Atlanta, GA to spearhead a similar effort. This effort established a ten-city program to recruit and place women of color into professional and managerial jobs in private industry. She helped place the first women of color into professional and technical jobs in companies that included General Motors, Delta Airlines, and Coca-Cola. This work gained her national recognition, and in 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed her, at age 29, to be the youngest director of the Women’s Bureau in the history of the U. S. Department of Labor.

At the end of the Carter administration in 1981, Sec. Herman founded A. M. Herman & Associates, a consulting firm that led to significant diversity and inclusion work with a number of companies, including Proctor & Gamble and AT&T. She remained a high-profile political figure and was eventually called to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. After the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1992, she was appointed as the first African American woman Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. In 1997, she again made history when she was sworn in as the first African American to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of the U. S. Department of Labor.

During her tenure as Labor Secretary, unemployment reached a thirty-year low. Sec. Herman garnered praise for her efforts to institute effective child labor standards, her deft handling of the UPS worker’s strike of 1997, and her advocacy to increase the minimum wage. Her public service has supported five presidents of the United States, both Democrat and Republican.

Sec. Herman has been awarded more than 30 honorary doctorates and is an inductee into both the Minority Business Hall of Fame and the National Women’s History Project. Her non-profit work includes service on the boards of the National Urban League and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a former trustee for her alma mater, Xavier University, a current trustee of the Toyota Technological Institute at the University of Chicago, is on the board of the Bush-Clinton Presidential Leadership Scholars initiative, and chairs the Dorothy I. Height Educational Foundation, and the Advisory Board of her alma mater, Heart of Mary, in Mobile.

In 2000, Secretary Herman married the late Charles L. Franklin, a successful family physician in McLean, VA.

Alma Gates Scroggins

  • September 28th, 2021

In high school, Alma Gates Scroggins’ father thought she was too tenderhearted to fulfill her ambition of becoming a social worker. Believing she wouldn’t be able to say no to people, he talked her into becoming an accountant instead. Yet as CFO of CNN, Scroggins had to say no to some of the media’s most familiar faces – far from the role her father might have envisioned.

Scroggins is a native of Greensboro, Alabama, graduating from Greensboro High School in 1965. She went on to graduate magna cum laude from The University of Alabama’s College of Commerce with a degree in accounting in 1969.

Scroggins was in the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, serving as chapter president. She credits this as being her first experience with running a business. In recognition of her hard work and academic aptitude, Scroggins was tapped for Alpha Lambda Delta, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma.

After working for a year at Dudley, Hopton-Jones, Sims & Freeman in Birmingham, Alabama, Scroggins left the accounting firm to work for Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in Atlanta, Georgia. When she started, the company had 300 employees, one TV station, five radio stations, and nine outdoor advertising plants. Being involved at the ground level of Turner and being exposed to Ted Turner’s vision of growing a company and leveraging its assets, Scroggins received invaluable training and insight to help continue its success.

When CNN launched on June 1, 1980, there were doubts, particularly in the eyes of the accountants, as to whether it would succeed. When Scroggins was called in from the Turner side and named vice president of CNN Financial Administration in late 1981, CNN was facing costs far beyond original projections Working with journalists to consider cost alternatives to covering news, Scroggins became a trusted colleague and stabilizing influence. With cost controls and procedures in place, and the network’s growing acceptance in the news industry, CNN became profitable in 1985. Promoted to CFO and senior vice president, Scroggins was the first female member of the CNN executive team. She served 30 years, retiring in 2000 as executive vice president of the CNN News Group, which in her 18 years at CNN had grown to encompass CNN, Headline News, CNN Radio, CNN International, CNN Newsource, CNN Airport Network, CNN/Sports Illustrated, and CNN En Español.

Scroggins received several awards honoring her accomplishments. In 1993 she received the Media Award from the Culverhouse College of Commerce. She was appointed to the inaugural UA’s President’s Advisory Board in 1999 and received The University of Alabama National Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 2003. Scroggins is a lifetime member of the Board of Visitors for the Culverhouse College of Commerce and is one of the initial members of its Faculty Enhancement Foundation.

Scroggins served as the chair of Buckhead Christian Ministries, a consortium of churches reaching out to the working poor. She was treasurer of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church and chair of their Board of Trustees. She is a founding partner and treasurer of a Christ-centered nonprofit women’s charity, One Hundred Shares, Inc. Created in 2007, OHS has awarded more than $1 million in grants in Atlanta, with a vision of expanding this concept to other communities.

Scroggins currently serves on the executive team of the Women’s Initiative at Peachtree Road. The organization provides restoration in the form of housing, medical and counseling needs, spiritual encouragement, and education to women facing reentry into society from incarceration and from the sex trafficking industry.

She is married to Lee Andrew Scroggins, Jr., has three stepchildren: Elizabeth, Lee, and Charlie, and seven grandchildren.

Gary P. Fayard

  • August 17th, 2021

Over his tenure as chief financial officer and executive vice president, he helped the company double its revenues to more than $47 billion. In those roles, he oversaw mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, and risk management.

Retiring in 2014 after 20 years of service, with 15 years in the CFO role, one of Fayard’s greatest accomplishments was leading the acquisition of Coca-Cola’s North American bottling and distribution business in 2010 for $12 billion. As part of his oversight over the company’s global finance operations, he established shared service centers in Ireland, the Philippines, and other locations around the world.

Through his tenure, he earned a reputation as a leader that could talk long-term strategy as well as the operational details. He prioritized the personal and professional growth of those reporting to him. Industry publications have recognized Fayard for his leadership capabilities: for three years running Institutional Investor named him the top CFO in the beverage industry and was a member of its “All-America Executive Team” for 2012. Furthermore, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2015.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Fayard served 19 years with Ernst & Young, concluding his service there as a partner, area director of audit services, and area director of manufacturing services.

Upon retirement, he started Stonewall Ridge Farm, a registered black Angus seedstock operation in Tennessee.

He serves on the board of directors of Genuine Parts Co. and Monster Energy Corp. He is the past president of the Atlanta-area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and chaired its successful $15 million fundraising campaign.

Through his involvement with The Coca-Cola Foundation, The University of Alabama was the first public institution to receive Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarships. He is a member of The University of Alabama President’s Cabinet and is on the board of visitors for UA’s Culverhouse College of Business.

Fayard attended The University of Alabama where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting –– the department that now houses the Fayard Endowed Chair of Accounting.

He was born in Atmore, Alabama and has been married to Nancy Shell Fayard for 46 years. They have two sons, John and Chris, and three grandchildren.

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