DiversityInc - September 2008

LINDA DENNY: LEADING WBENC TO NEW TERRITORY

“It was very lonely in the ladies’ room,” says Linda Denny, president and CEO of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), of her time in management at New York Life Insurance.

Denny was not only a trailblazer at the company, she was a high achiever in a world that was mostly men. She started with the company in 1981 as an agent, and in three years, she qualified for the million-dollar roundtable, which includes the top 4 percent of life-insurance agents in the country. She became a sales manager, and even though her territory was Springfield, Mo., within four years, she was fifth in the company in sales.

Now as CEO of WBENC, Denny strives to “focus on who you serve and how to lead an organization. If I can inspire someone along the way, I’m all for that. But more importantly, I think I should encourage them along the way and provide opportunities for them to do what they want to do.”

WBENC’s main charge is certifying qualifying busi-

nesses as at least 51 percent
women-owned, operated and
controlled and partnering
them with interested corpo-
rations. Denny previously
was vice president. She also
helped launch a sister organi-
zation in the United Kingdom _LJA_INN_DE_AT _DC_ER_NEN_NS_YHAW
called WEConnectUK. W^SMo^Im ^Te^Hn’s Business En-
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WBENC’s efforts are get- terprise National Council ting noticed. This year’s annual national conference counted 900 more attendees than last year’s, a 33 percent increase.

“The WBENC certification can truly open doors to women-owned companies, even for those whose market is not a corporation,” Denny says. “Some of our members focus on partnering with other WBEs. We always hear ‘Why didn’t I hear about this sooner?’ And that’s our biggest challenge—letting women business owners know.”

MAYOR YVONNE J. JOHNSON: A CALLING TO SERVE

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Yvonne Johnson never thought she’d have a political career, especially not as the first Black mayor of her hometown, Greensboro, N.C. But she always knew her life would be devoted to service.

Johnson grew up during the 1950s, when segregation was at its peak. When her mother was ill, she was sent

to live with her aunt and her uncle, a professor of dairy science at North Carolina A&T University. He instilled in her the importance of education.

“I never thought, ‘Will I go to college?’ My dilemma was where would I go,” she says. Johnson eventually settled on Bennett College, an all-women HBCU, in her hometown. It was there that she got her first taste of politics.

“I went to Bennett College when the sit-ins and

Civil Rights Movement kicked off,” she says. “We never gave a second thought to whether we should be doing what we were doing.”

In 1964, Johnson graduated and went to graduate school to study social work at Howard University. In 1968, she and her husband moved back to Greensboro, and in 1993, Johnson got involved in politics.

“I had probably the most diverse campaign committee—there were Asians, Native Americans, whites and Blacks, and we just worked hard,” she says. Johnson was successfully elected to the city council in 1993 and became mayor pro-tem in 1999 as a member of the council. Last year, Johnson was elected the first Black mayor of Greensboro.

She has installed an international advisory council to make sure the city’s government was adhering to the 87 different ethnic groups in Greensboro.

Johnson believes her most important task is service. “Service is just a rent you pay to be on this earth,” she says. “I’ve been paying rent a long time.”