Tracey Thomas Travis

Chief financial officer Tracey Thomas Travis was born on June 22, 1962 in Rochester, New York to Stanley Thomas, Jr. and Claire Jean Thomas (Burgess). She received her B.S. degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania in 1983 and her M.B.A. degree from Columbia Business School in New York, New York in 1986.

After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Travis was hired by General Motors as a reliability/quality engineer in 1983 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After completing her M.B.A. degree in 1986, Travis returned to General Motors and was promoted to the global comptroller staff in Detroit in 1988. In 1989, Travis joined PepsiCo and subsequently became a division CFO for the Michigan Business Unit in 1993 and a general manager of the Michigan Market Unit in 1995. Travis then served as CFO for the American National Can Company in Chicago, Illinois from 1999 to 2001. Travis was hired as senior vice president of finance and CFO at Limited Brands & Intimate Brands in Columbus, Ohio in 2001. Then, in 2005, Travis joined the Ralph Lauren Corporation in New York City as CFO and worked there for seven years. In 2012, Travis served as CFO for Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in New York City. She retired from Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in 2024 after twelve years as CFO.

Travis serves as a director on the boards of Accenture, PLC., Meta Platforms, the Hyatt Corporation, and the Brunswick Group. She previously served on the boards of the Campbell Soup Company and Jo-Ann Stores. She has also served on the boards of Columbia University Graduate School of Business, the Lincoln Center Theater, the Council of Foreign Relations, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Women’s Forum of New York.

Travis has received numerous awards and honors, including Best CFO from Institutional Investor Magazine in 2008, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009, the Legal Momentum Aiming High Award from Legal Momentum in 2016, the Achiever Award from Cosmetic Women in 2019, and the Legacy Honoree Award from Black Enterprise in 2023. Travis was mentioned on Black Enterprise’s “The Top 100 African-Americans in Corporate America” list in 2009 and “The Most Powerful Women in Corporate America” list in 2019. She was also mentioned on the Treasury & Risk “Top 100 Most Influential People in Finance” list in 2012 and Ebony magazine’s “Power 100 Honoree” list in 2020.

Travis resides in Scarsdale, New York. She has two children: Alexandria and Adrienne.

Tracey Thomas Travis was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 14, 2023 and May 10, 2024.