Earl G. Graves Chairman
Earl G. Graves, Ltd.
Publisher, Black Enterprise magazine
Director of Aetna or its predecessors since 1994
Earl G. Graves is Chairman of Earl G. Graves, Ltd. (a multimedia company with properties in television, radio, events, digital media and the Internet), having served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1972. He is the Managing Partner of Graves Ventures, Inc. and also the Publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, which he founded in 1970. Additionally, since 1998, Mr. Graves has been a Managing Director of Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Partners, L.P. Mr. Graves is a trustee of Howard University, a member of the Executive Board and Executive Committee of the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Aetna Foundation, Inc. and the Black Enterprise B.R.I.D.G.E. Foundation. Mr. Graves has worked to foster the growth of a vibrant African American business community. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller How to Succeed in Business without Being White and is the recipient of more than 60 honorary degrees and numerous awards for his business success and civic contributions. Mr. Graves was named by Fortune Magazine as one of the 50 most powerful and influential African Americans in corporate America and is the subject of an exhibit in The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1990, Mr. Graves was awarded the 84th NAACP Spingarn Medal, the highest achievement award for African Americans. In 1995, his alma mater, Morgan State University, renamed its business school the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. In August 2006, Mr. Graves received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for his contributions to the field of journalism and the publishing industry. In October, civil rights activist and founding Black Enterprise Board of Advisors member Julian Bond interviewed Graves for "An Evening with Earl Graves," a program produced for The HistoryMakers that aired on the PBS network in February 2007. On April 26, 2007, Mr. Graves was inducted into the Junior Achievement Worldwide U.S. Business Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions to free enterprise and to society.
