DiversityInc - January/February 2008

In 1995, after years establishing a name in the invest-ment-banking industry, Melinda Wolfe took a risk.

Wolfe was already highly regarded at Merrill Lynch, where as a managing director she managed municipal utility and project finance transactions. But she wanted to break out of her box.

“I was an investment banker, and I had a good career on Wall Street, but I thought I could make a change and look at a broader platform,” Wolfe says. “I thought the diversity area would be a good one to do, but I didn’t intend to have a career in diversity.”

Wolfe was soon selected to head the office of diversity strategy and programs. What was intended as a “springboard” instead became her life’s calling.

“When I did this, it was a risk. I left what was known and decided to do something else. I was working in a whole different league with a whole different number of leaders, and that could have worked or could have backfired,” she says. But just the opposite occurred.

Today, as senior vice president, executive talent, and

chief diversity officer at American Express, Wolfe is responsible for leading executive talent acquisition, development and integration with American Express’ diversity strategy. Before joining American Express, she headed the global leadership and diversity office at Gold- MELINDA WOLFE man Sachs, and before that, ^American ^Express

Top 50 Rank: 23

she directed the office of global recruiting and training at Credit

Suisse First Boston.

“It’s always a challenge to come into a new culture and understand how it works, what are the values and basic operating norms … what are the covert and unspoken norms,” she says. “Also, it’s a very big global company, so really understanding ... how to approach my mandate from a very business-focused arena has been a big challenge for me.”

DAN LIBERTINO: A LIFETIME OF KNOWLEDGE SHARED

DAN LIBERTINO Sikorsky Aircraft

Ten years ago, following a tour of duty as a helicopter mechanic in the U.S. Air Force and another 41 years as a technical representative with Sikorsky Aircraft, no one would have blamed then 67-year-old Dan Libertino for slowing down.

But Libertino wasn’t quite ready. “Retirement for me was

a very, very difficult challenge,” says Libertino.

Fortunately for everyone, Libertino worked for an employer that recognized the value in knowledge he had accumulated over the course of four decades.

Libertino began to volunteer his services with the company’s archives for several years before officially becoming president of the Sikorsky Historical Archives in 2003. The nonprofit group acquires, manages and protects historic documents and

memorabilia associated with Igor I. Sikorsky, the founder of the Sikorsky helicopter.

The relationship Libertino had with then company president Jean Buckley allowed him to step into a role he loves dearly. The current president is Jeffrey Pino, who is largely responsible for the funding that expanded the retired-workers program.

Libertino’s love for his job is directly connected to his passion for the Sikorsky H- 5 and H- 19 helicopters. Used specifically by the U.S. Air Force, the H- 5 was introduced in the 1940s and provided helicopters with a greater useful load, endurance and speed.

Starting out as a technical representative in 1956, Libertino traveled the globe as the company’s resident expert, offering technical assistance to customers.

Libertino takes simple pleasures from his job. He speaks of a letter he received from a young girl in Ireland who had a school assignment on Igor Sikorsky. “She proudly said that she got an A, and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’” he notes.