The CEO of Red Lobster and Olive Garden
Another history moment for us and our children.
The Higher Education of the Nation's Top African-American Restaurateur.
Each week tens of thousands of diners eat at an Olive Garden or Red Lobster restaurant. Few of these diners know that the CEO heading these large restaurant chains is a black man.
Clarence Otis Jr. is the CEO of Darden Restaurants Inc., the largest casual dining operator in the nation. The firm operates nearly 1,400 company-owned restaurants coast to coast serving 300 million meals annually. Darden employs 150,000 workers and has annual revenues of $6 billion.
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Otis moved to Los Angeles when he was 6 years old. His father was a high school dropout who worked as a janitor.
The family lived in Watts at the time of the 1965 riots. In the post-Watts period, Otis recalls being stopped and questioned by police several times a year because of the color of his skin.
A high school guidance counselor recommended him for a scholarship at Williams College, The highly selective liberal arts institution in Massachusetts. Otis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams and went on to earn a law degree at Stanford.
Otis landed on Wall Street as a merger and acquisitions attorney for J.P. Morgan Securities. He joined Darden Restaurants in 1995 as corporate treasurer. He became CEO in 2004.
How many of us knew this?
Submitted by Nubia
Posts
4 comments:
Sounds like a great success story. He faced many challenges that would have kept a lesser man down.
However, is the fact he is black relevant? You make it sound like black men are less capable of success.
It's time to stop assuming minorities and women can't compete on a level playing field. It is 2008!
Perhaps the story will have an impact on those who, in fact, DO assume "minorities and women can't compete on a level playing field."
And YES, the fact that he is black is, indeed, relevant. Success stories can be an inspiration to many minorities who may otherwise think all is lost.
Whose assuming anything? Next month happens to be Black History Month and the whole point of the post is to show that African-Americans have the where-with-all to aspire to whatever levels they choose to pursue!
Try looking at things positively for a change. After all...
IT IS 2008!
I thought I was being positive.
I may have mistook your title...
"A little good news for a change!!!"
... with all its exclamation points as an expression of frustration, surprise or sarcasm.
Anyway, I hope your opening statement...
"Another history moment for us and our children."
... is not exclusive to any single ethnic group. As a believer in American opportunity, I too take pride in the accomplishments of such a man.
I guess I'm just looking forward to the day we no longer feel a need to divide our history into black, brown or white buckets.
No. You didn't mistake the title...you mistook the exclamation points. They were not, by any stretch of the imagination, "an expression of frustration, surprise or sarcasm." On the contrary, they were an expression of minority pride.
The opening statement was part of the article, and is definitely NOT exclusive to any single ethnic group. I am a firm believer that ALL ethnic groups share the same passion to be considered equal to the majority, hence my statement: "Success stories can be an inspiration to many minorities who may otherwise think all is lost."
Like yourself, I, too, am "looking forward to the day we no longer feel a need to divide our history into" those colored buckets. Which is why we need to be cognizant of those who are successful and share their successes with those who have become disenfranchised.
I've enjoyed our exchange:-)
Post a Comment