There is a striking race gap in corporate America, with black executives significantly underrepresented in the top ranks of American companies. According to a study by The Washington Post, out of the nearly 21,000 corporate executives at publicly traded companies in the United States, only 1,451 are black. This is despite the fact that black people make up about 13% of the population.
There are a number of possible explanations for this gap. One possibility is that black executives are not being given the same opportunities as their white counterparts. Another possibility is that they are not being promoted to senior roles as often. And finally, it's possible that black executives are leaving corporate America at higher rates than white executives.
While there has been some progress made in recent years to increase the number of black executives working at American companies, there is still an obvious gap as shown by the lack of black executives at eight major companies. Walmart, Nvidia, Cisco, Pfizer, T-Mobile, Costco, Honeywell and Qualcomm all lack black executives on their leadership teams.
This interactive article provides an overview of the data on black executives in corporate America and offers insights into what can be done to close the race gap.
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