TheGrio’s 100: Rosalind Brewer, Wal-Mart leader breaks Fortune 500 glass ceiling

TheGrio's 100 - If Wal-Mart South were its own company, president Rosalind Brewer would be running the 21st largest corporation on the 2010 Fortune 500 list...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

If Wal-Mart South were its own company, president Rosalind Brewer would be running the 21st largest corporation on the 2010 Fortune 500 list. As the head of this division of the retail giant, Brewer oversees nearly 1,200 Wal-Mart stores that bring in $85 billion in sales annually, and she is responsible for 450,000 Wal-Mart associates in eight states.

Rosalind Brewer is making history … by managing a division of Wal-Mart with bigger revenues than Coca Cola and Goldman Sachs combined. As president of Wal-Mart South, Brewer maintains the 1,200 regional stores and makes strategic decisions about the division’s future, including investments in real estate and personnel development. As the chair of Wal-Mart’s President’s Global Council of Women’s Leaders, Brewer also works closely with 15 of the company’s top female executives to improve networking opportunities for other women at Wal-Mart. Brewer also serves on the Board of Trustees at her alma mater, Spelman College.

In her own words …

On why she serves as on Spelman College’s Board of Trustees: “I chose to serve as a trustee because of the genuine love I have for my alma mater and my personal interest in investing in the education of African-American women.”

A little-known fact …

FedEx named Ursula Burns CEO in 2009, making her the first black woman to run a Fortune 500 company.

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