Donna A. James Biography - Attended College As A Single Mother, Joined Nationwide Insurance, Headed Human Resources, Elected President Of Nationwide Strategic Investments
executive corporate enabled african
1957—
Corporate executive
Plenty of hard work, combined with her superior business and entrepreneurial skills, enabled Donna A. James, once a single, teenage mother, to climb the corporate ladder to become the first black woman executive at Nationwide, one of the country's largest insurance and financial services companies. From her position as vice president of human resources for Nationwide in 1996, through her appointment as president of Nationwide Strategic Investments in 2003, James was the first African American in the company to hold each of her titles, as well as the first African American to sit on the corporation's executive committee. She also was the first to head an operating division of this Fortune 500 company. She reported directly to two successive chief executive officers (CEOs). Her position at Nationwide enabled James to advocate for diversity throughout the corporate world.
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Donna Anita Scott was born on June 30, 1957, in Washington, D.C. Although her mother, Bertha (Searles) Scott, had a high school education, her father, Herbert Scott, was illiterate, having only attended school through the third grade. Bertha Scott taught her husband to write his name. After a long career as a driver for a bus company, Herbert Scott opened his own successful car wash and reconditio…
In 1981 Scott was recruited as an accounting specialist by Nationwide, based in Columbus. She became a one-woman accounting and finance office for Nation-wide's first heath maintenance organization (HMO). Over the following decade she moved rapidly up the
corporate ladder, holding various management positions in accounting operations and compliance and in annuities, pensions, and mutual-…
James was promoted to senior vice president and chief human resources officer in 1998, with responsibility for 290 employees and a $35-million budget. The following year she spoke with Dawn M. Baskerville of Essence magazine about her work: "My division oversees compensation, training and development, recruiting and staffing, benefits, executive development, EEOC compliance, and organizatio…
James became president of Nationwide Strategic Investments in 2003, overseeing several of Nationwide's businesses including GatesMcDonald, Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Company, Nationwide Health Plans, Nationwide Global Holdings—the corporation's international arm—and Nationwide Mutual Capital. The latter business was Nationwide's $150-million venture capital di…
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