When Calvin Butler became chief executive of electric utility operator Exelon in late 2022, he joined a small but growing club: Black CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. Butler, 53, was soon joined by the new top executive of another large utility in May, Southern Company’s Christopher Womack, bringing the current number of Black CEOs on the list to eight.
While that tally is a new record, and features heavy hitters like Roz Brewer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, it still underscores how under-represented Black executives are in American corner offices, given that 12.4% of the U.S. population identifies as Black. Butler says large companies have to keep pushing their diversity initiatives, as well as be consistent about identifying talent and nurturing it. That means giving promising aspiring executives assignments that challenge them, despite the noise out there against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. “We have a very diverse team at Exelon and that didn’t happen because one day I woke up one morning and said, ‘Let’s make a diverse team,'” Butler told Fortune. “We have to be very intentional about it and unapologetic.”
Butler has worked for 15 years at Exelon, which owns six utilities in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. He credits his mentors with advocating for and giving him tough assignments, from operations to human resources to mergers. And he doesn’t buy into the notion that companies can’t find enough Black talent.
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