Human resources executive Sean N. Woodroffe was born on June 18, 1963 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago to Jeanne-Wendy Woodroffe and Pollard Moore. He earned his B.A. degree in international relations from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1986.

Woodroffe joined Merrill Lynch in 1986, where he held various roles in finance and operations before transitioning to human resources in 1992. He continued to work internationally in human resources for the firm, in places such as Tokyo, Japan, and London, England, eventually rising to the position of first vice president and head of international human resources. Woodroffe left Merrill Lynch in 2004 to become senior vice president, chief of human resources, and administration officer at Financial Guaranty Insurance Company in New York, New York. In 2008, he joined United Bank for Africa, working in both New York, New York, and Lagos, Nigeria, as division head of human resources business partnership. The following year, Woodroffe was hired as vice president of human resources, internal communications, and philanthropy for Sun Life Financial in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 2013, he signed on as National Life Group’s senior vice president and chief people officer in Montpelier, Vermont. In 2017, he moved to TIAA in Iselin, New Jersey, where he first served as senior vice president of human resources for client services and technology, before being promoted to senior executive vice president and chief people officer. In 2023, Woodroffe joined Lincoln Financial Group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as an executive vice president and chief people, culture, and communications officer.

Woodroffe served on the compensation committee of the YMCA of Greater New York from 2005 to 2017 and on the CHRO Global Leadership Board for Gartner. He was a member of the board of trustees for the Chapin School in Princeton, New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, and for Shaw University from 2012 to 2025. He also served on the board of trustees for The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey. Woodroffe was a member of the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington from 2014 to 2017, the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club from 2018 to 2021, and Girls Who Invest from 2018 to 2024. He has also served on the board of directors of the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the Society for Human Resource Management. Woodroffe is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, Sigma Pi Phi, and the Prince Hall Freemasonry.

Woodroffe and his wife, Cindy, reside in Belle Mead, New Jersey. They have two children: Nigel and Lauren Woodroffe.

Sean N. Woodroffe was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 20, 2025.

Management consultant Michel Anderson was born on February 24, 1953 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Florida and Randall Anderson. In 1971, he graduated from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was awarded a scholarship at The Ohio State University. In 1974, he transferred to the University of Cincinnati where he earned his B.A. degree in political science in 1976. Anderson then attended the University of San Diego and obtained his M.B.A. degree in 1983.

In 1978, Anderson was hired as an assistant to the president of Shappell Industries of San Diego, Inc., a home building company, where he obtained government approval on housing projects. In 1982, Anderson worked on the Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, commonly referred to as “The Grace Commission.” In this role, he led a team that evaluated the Department of Defense Military Housing Program’s cost effectiveness. That same year, Anderson served as a chief confidant to the City of San Diego mayor, Roger Hedgecock, where he worked on business and economic development in the city until 1985. From 1983 to 1984, Anderson was selected to be the San Diego representative on the Governor’s Infrastructure Task Force, which evaluated the needs and revenues of California public facilities. In 1985, Anderson founded and became principal of Michel Anderson Associates, a business and land use consulting firm. Anderson has operated his firm for over forty years. He also worked as a senior project manager at P&D Technologies, Inc. from 1986 to 1988.

Anderson served as a member of the board of the California Southern Small Business Development Corporation, Housing Opportunities, Inc., World Affairs Council, Lincoln Club, Partners for Livable Places, and the American Cancer Society. He was also chairman of the San Diego Parks Foundation, the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Corporation, and the San Diego County Capital Asset Leasing Corporation, which he joined 1986. Anderson served as treasurer of the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center and the Keiller Leadership Academy.

Anderson resides in San Diego, California. He has one adult son, Marshall Anderson.

Michel Anderson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 30, 2024.

Attorney Kim Foxx was born on April 9, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois to Gennell Wilson and Miller Anderson. She graduated from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago in 1990. She earned her B.A. degree in political science in 1994 from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. She went on to earn her J.D. degree from Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School in 1997.

Foxx began her law career in 1998 when she was hired as an assistant public guardian for the Cook County Public Guardian System. In 2001, Foxx served as an assistant state’s attorney for the Juvenile Justice Bureau (Child Protection), where she worked for four years. In 2005, she served as an assistant state’s attorney in the Juvenile Justice Division. While working for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Foxx was hired as a faculty instructor at the National College of District Attorneys, and she also assumed the role of assistant state’s attorney in the preliminary hearings, felony review, and sex crimes division in 2007. Foxx was hired as the deputy chief of staff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in 2013, later serving as chief of staff until 2015. Foxx left the Office of the Cook County Board President to run for state’s attorney. She secured the Democratic nomination and was elected Cook County State’s Attorney in 2016. Foxx announced her plan to run for reelection in 2019 and was subsequently reelected in 2020. She resigned in 2024.

Foxx served as the president of the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of Illinois from 2014 to 2015. She also served as a member of the boards of the Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Get In Chicago, Free Spirit Media, and the Leadership Fellows Association. She was a member of the board of trustees of Adler University from 2015 to 2023. Foxx is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated.

Foxx has received numerous awards and honors, including being named a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow in 2009, a Diversity Leadership Fellow by the Illinois State Bar Association in 2010, and an Edgar Fellow in 2014. She was also awarded the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Commitment to Justice Award in 2012 and the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award from EMILY's List in 2018.

Foxx has two children, Kai and Kendall Foxx. She resides in Flossmoor, Illinois.

The Honorable Kim Foxx was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 14, 2023.

Former artistic director and ballet dancer Virginia Johnson was born on January 25, 1950 in Washington, D.C. to Madeline Murray Johnson and James Lee Johnson, Jr. At age three, she studied at the Therrell Smith School of Ballet. In 1963, Johnson was awarded a scholarship to study at The Washington School of Ballet. She graduated from the Washington School of Ballet in 1968. She went on to attend New York University.

In 1969, Johnson joined Dance Theatre of Harlem, a racially diverse company that Arthur Mitchell cofounded to dispel the myth that African Americans did not belong in ballet. Following the company's premiere at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1971, Johnson rose through the ranks to become a principal/lead ballerina. In addition to touring across the country with Dance Theatre of Harlem, she appeared in the dance television series Margot Fonteyn's The Magic of Dance in 1979 and Natalia Makarova's Ballernina in 1987. Onstage, she performed the leading roles in A Streetcar Named Desire in 1982, Fall River Legend in 1983, and Creole Giselle in 1984. In 1986, A Streetcar Named Desire was broadcast on PBS’s Dance in America television series and in 1987 Creole Giselle was the first full-length ballet production broadcast on NBC. Bravo Network broadcast Fall River Legend in 1989. In addition to these performances, Johnson toured with the Dance Theatre of Harlem to the Soviet Union in 1988, and to South Africa in 1992. Johnson often performed as a guest artist with the Washington Ballet and the Capitol Ballet as well as Stars of the World Ballet in 1978, Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1989 and Britain's Royal Ballet in 1992.

In 1997, Johnson retired from performing and enrolled at Fordham University to study communications. In 2000, she became the founding editor of Pointe, an international ballet magazine, and served as its editor in chief for nine years. At Arthur Mitchell's invitation, Johnson returned to Dance Theatre of Harlem in 2010 to serve as its artistic director. In 2018, Johnson partnered with other dance groups and associations to launch The Equity Project: Increasing the Presence of Blacks in Ballet. Johnson retired in 2023 and joined New York University's Center for Ballet and the Arts as a visiting scholar.

Johnson has received honorary doctorates from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington; Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; and the Juilliard School in New York, New York. Among numerous awards for her work in dance are the 1985 Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women in the United States; Washington Performing Arts Society's 2008-2009 Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2023 Dance in Focus Award from Dance on Camera; and the Bessies 2023 Lifetime Achievement in Dance Award.

Johnson resides in New York, New York.

Virginia Johnson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 18, 2023.

Corporate executive Paula A. Price was born on October 23, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois to Flora Hall and Preston Hall, Sr. She received her B.Sc. degree in accounting in 1982 from DePaul University and her M.B.A. degree in finance and strategy in 1988 from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Price was hired as an accountant by Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago, Illinois, where she worked until 1986. In 1990, she was hired as the director of financial planning and analysis by Kraft Foods in Glenview, Illinois. She then moved to London, England, in 1995, to join the multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo as its divisional chief financial officer for the United Kingdom. In 1999, Price was hired as general manager for retirement services by Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey, where she worked before joining JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York City in 2001 as senior vice president and CFO for institutional trust services. In 2006, Price became senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer for CVS Health Corporation in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where she was instrumental in the company’s $26.5 billion acquisition of the pharmacy benefits management company, Caremark Rx. In 2009, Price was hired as executive vice president and CFO for supermarket retailer Ahold USA in Quincy, Massachusetts, working there for five years while she also taught accounting and management at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2018, Price became executive vice president and CFO for Macy’s until her retirement in 2020.

Price’s service on corporate boards of directors has included Bristol Myers Squibb, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Accenture, where she also served as chair of the audit committee. She served as a director on the board of DaVita Inc. from 2020 to 2022, Western Digital Corporation from 2014 to 2022, and Dollar General Corporation from 2014 to 2018. She has also served on the board of directors of Mondelez International since 2024.

Price lives in New York City with her husband, Michael Daniel Price. They have one adult son.

Paula A. Price was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 16, 2022.

Investment executive Keith Cooper was born on June 23, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, New York to Marie Cooper and George Cooper. He attended New Castle School, Powells Lane School, Park Avenue School, and Westbury Junior High before he graduated from Westbury High School in Westbury, New York in 1974. He went on to earn his B.S. degree in electrical power systems engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979 and his M.B.A. degree in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1981.

While attending Northeastern University, Cooper worked in the nuclear engineering department of the Long Island Lighting Company for two years. He then was hired by the Chemical Bank in the gold trading department before joining Goldman Sachs in Chicago, Illinois, in 1981 At Goldman Sachs, Cooper worked in fixed income sales until 1995. He was the first African American at Goldman to sell corporate bonds and was also promoted to vice president. Cooper was hired as a director at Smith Barney in 1995. He opened a Deutsche Bank office in Chicago in 1997, serving as its director until 2004. Then, from 2004 to 2006, Cooper served as a director of Wells Fargo Bank, where he continued to work in fixed income sales. After leaving the business in 2006, Cooper co-founded Concord Family Services, a deathcare services company, where he also serves as executive vice president.

Cooper resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Rachelle H. Cooper. They have four adult children: Kyle Cooper, Danelle Williams, Jared Cooper, and Kara Cooper.

Keith Cooper was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 18, 2025.

Civic and business leader Shirley Robinson Hall was born on June 11, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan to Alma Holley and Walter Robinson. She graduated from High School of Commerce in Detroit before she received her B.A. degree in mass communications and journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 1974. She also earned a corporate executive institute certificate from Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1994.

In 1965, Hall began her political career working in the office of U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. From 1967 to 1968, she served in the vice-presidential office of Hubert Humphrey. The following year, she became an administrative assistant in the office of U.S. Congressman James Scheuer. By 1970, Hall was hired as a field representative for the Michigan Democratic Party, and she went on to represent Michigan at the Democratic National Committee from 1972 to 1988. In 1975, Hall transitioned into the corporate sector, joining Michigan Consolidated Gas Company as a manager of community relations. Her public service continued when, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed her as deputy director of 1980 census recruitment for the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1983, she worked as director of special grants for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and in 1997, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as a U.S. Public Delegate to the United Nations.

Hall was the recipient of the Appreciation of Service Award from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in 2013.

Hall held many board positions throughout her career. She served as chair of the Washington Convention Center Board of Directors from 1991 to 1995. From 1995 to 2013, she was a member of the board of directors for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. She also served on the board of directors for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority from 2010 to 2014. Hall was also a member of the Public Policy Institute Board of Visitors at Duke University, the board of directors for the Community Foundation of Greater Washington, and the board of directors for the Providence Health Foundation. She served on the board of advisors for Riggs Bank.

Hall and her husband, Elliot S. Hall, reside in New York, New York. They have one child named Tiffany.

Shirley Robinson Hall was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 19, 2025 and August 24, 2025.

Entrepreneur Fawn Weaver was born on September 5, 1976 in Hollywood, California to Philomena and Frank Wilson. She earned a Corporate Director Certificate from Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts in 2021. She went on to earn her B.A. degree in business leadership and interdisciplinary studies from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2023.

Weaver founded FEW Entertainment, a public relations firm, in 1994. Then, in 1999, she was hired as chef Gerry Garvin’s business manager for his Los Angeles restaurant, G. Garvin’s, where she also served as the minority partner. Weaver went on to work as a manager for the Viceroy Hotel Group in 2004 and as a general manager for the Dimension Development Company in 2007. She founded Grant Sidney, Inc. (GSI), a private investment company, in 2010. She and her husband, Keith Weaver, purchased the ‘Nearest’ farm in Shelbyville, Tennessee in 2016. In 2017, Weaver became the first African American woman to lead a major spirit brand when she founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, which went on to become the best-selling African American owned spirit. In 2020, Weaver co-founded the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative with Jack Daniel’s and launched the Black Business Booster program to empower Black-owned spirit brands. In 2021, she also created the $50 million Uncle Nearest Venture Fund to invest in minority-owned spirits companies. Then, in 2023, Weaver opened the Humble Baron restaurant at the Nearest Green Distillery.

Weaver is the author of several books including New York Times bestseller Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage and The Argument-Free Marriage: 28 Days to Creating the Marriage You've Always Wanted with the Spouse You Already Have, published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2014 and 2015, respectively. She published her third book, Love & Whiskey with Melcher Media Inc. in 2024.

Besides founding and serving as chairman of the Nearest Green Foundation, Weaver served as a board member for the following organizations: the Young Presidents Organization, Black Women On Boards, WomenExecs on Boards, Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND)’s, Slavery No More, and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc.

Throughout her career, Weaver has received numerous awards and honors including on Time magazine’s “31 People Changing the South” list in 2018, the Spirit of the Year Award at the Bartender's Spirits Awards in 2021, on Food & Wine magazine’s “Drinks Innovators of the Year” list in 2022, and a Distinguished Patriotic Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 2024. That same year, she was recognized on both Forbes’ “America’s Self-Made Women” list and “The ForbesBLK 50” list.

Weaver and her husband, Keith Weaver, reside in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

Fawn Weaver was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 30, 2025.

Corporate executive Carl Ware was born on September 30, 1943 in Newman, Georgia to Lois and Ulas Ware. He earned his B.A. degree in political science from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1965. He went on to receive his M.A. degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1968.

In 1973, Ware was elected to the Atlanta City Council, where he served as the council’s first African American president from 1976 to 1979. He was then hired, in 1974, by The Coca-Cola Company as its urban and governmental affairs specialist. In 1979, he was promoted to the vice president of special markets; and in 1982, he became the vice president of urban affairs, managing the company’s domestic and international affairs and philanthropic programs. During this time, he founded the Coca-Cola Foundation, the company’s philanthropic organization, prior to being promoted to senior vice president in 1986. In 1991, Ware’s role grew internationally as the deputy group president of Coca-Cola’s Northeast Europe and Africa group. In 1993, he would be promoted again as the president of the Coca-Cola Africa Group, making him the company’s first African American group president. During this time, Ware worked closely with South African President Nelson Mandela. Ware went on to serve as the executive vice president of global public affairs and administration from 2001 until he retired from Coca-Cola in 2003. In 2019, Ware published his book, Portrait of an American Businessman: One Generation from Cotton Field to Boardroom with the Mercer University Press.

Ware served on the board of directors of United Way and was the chairman of United Way’s capital campaign, which raised $75 million in 1991. In 2002, he became the chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Ware is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and served on the board of directors for The Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., Cummins Inc., the Chevron Corporation, Georgia Power, and National Life of Vermont. He also served on the boards of PGA Tour Golf Course Properties, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In 2007, the Carl and Mary Ware Academic Center was dedicated to Ware and his wife at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. Ware was also awarded the International Achievement Award from the University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies in 2024.

Ware and his wife, Mary Ware, reside in Atlanta, Georgia.

Carl Ware was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 16, 2025 and April 15, 2025.

Judge Claudia Jordan was born on May 17, 1953 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Maxine Thomas and Rawlin Jordan. She graduated from Garner Senior High School in 1971. She received her B.A. degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1975 and her J.D. degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1980. She was the only African American woman in her law school’s graduating class.

Jordan became the first African American female hired at Colorado’s Legislative Council as an analyst, where she worked on school finance and taxation issues. In 1981, Jordan began her legal career as a law clerk for Morris Cole, Colorado’s first African American district court judge. In 1982, Jordan was admitted to the State Bar of Colorado and worked as a trial attorney for the State Public Defender. Opening her own law office in 1987, she specialized in civil and criminal litigation. In 1994, Jordan was appointed to the Denver County Court by Mayor Wellington Webb, making her the first African American female to serve as a judge in the Rocky Mountain region. Jordan retired in 2014, after twenty years on the bench, where she presided over various Denver courts, including traffic court, state criminal court, and municipal court.

Jordan has been a member of several organizations. She served on the board of trustees for the Denver Bar Association and the board of governors of the Colorado Bar Association. She also joined the Colorado Women’s Bar Association. Jordan is a lifetime member of the Sam Cary Bar Association.

Jordan has received many honors and awards for her accomplishments. In 1996, she was inducted into the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame. The Colorado Women's Bar Association honored Jordan with its Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award in 1998 and named her as their Judicial Reception Honoree in 2011. She was the University of Colorado School of Law’s 2014 Alumni Honoree. Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock proclaimed September 30th as ‘Claudia Jordan Day.’ Jordan was also honored at the 2023 Judges' Salute, hosted by the Sam Cary Bar Association and the National Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Jordan and her husband, Robert H. Johnson, Jr., reside in Denver, Colorado.

The Honorable Claudia Jordan was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 12, 2025.