Black MBA - Summer 2008 - (Page 41)

Daniel DuVerney Photography some Latino. I was able to have a good group of leading individuals, and then I was able to have a person whom I call my lead mentor, an African-American individual named Raymond Miles. He took me under his wing and said, ‘You seem to have something. I don’t know if you really have it all the way through, but you seem to have it, so come travel with me for a while and do some things with me.’ And then he introduced me to a broader McDonald’s and so, as a result, I’ve had the opportunity to serve in a lot of different roles in McDonald’s. There are not a lot of companies that give you that range where you can be an engineer and then you can come up with something different. The chief operating officer of the U.S. company, Jane Fields, has been with McDonald’s for more than 30 years. She entered the company as a single mom with the desire to take care of her family, and now she’s been here 30-plus years and is the No. 2 person in this company. Raul Alvarez, the president and chief operating officer of the company, has the No. 2 position in the company overall. He’s Cuban-born, with a financial background. James Skinner is the CFO of the company. He was in the military and worked his crew in restaurants. Two of my three VP division presidents are people whose careers have been at McDonald’s and started as crew people. One of my VP division presidents is on maternity leave. Most companies don’t give you that range. BT: Well, it’s interesting that you say that because so many of our high school students think McDonald’s is just a summer job for them. They don’t think about the future and what careers McDonald’s gives them. What advice would you give to them? DT: I give them the same advice that I give to all up-and-coming, soonto-be young professionals. Life is about positioning yourself to be at the fork in the road. It is about positioning yourself to be able to learn about everything around you, and then making an educated decision the best you can. It’s never 100 percent easy, no continued on page 110 BlackMBA • Summer 2008 41

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Black MBA - Summer 2008

Black MBA- Summer 2008 Contents Mailbag Up Front From the President & CEO Politics of Change Catalyst for Change: Results of our 2008 Political Poll Know Whose Shoulders You Stand On: The Legacy of H. Naylor Fitzhugh Howard University: Changing With the Times Straight Talk: CEO to CEO Creating Your Own Sandbox Dual Threats Avoiding the Faux Pa Invest in Your MBA Everything You Need to Know About...Estate Planning On Campus Plan Ahead The Big Show What's in a Name? On the Move Market Forecast Jeff Friday Keith Wyche Life Lessons On the Ground Real Biz A Golden Opportunity Entrepreneurial Institute Tech Tools Read for Success Stacey Tisdale Advertiser Index

Black MBA - Summer 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.