Roy Roberts (chief executive)

Roy S. Roberts is an American business executive who had a long career at General Motors before retiring as group vice president, North American Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing in 2000.[1] He is also a former managing director at Reliant Equity Investors.[2][3] From 2011 - 2013 he was the Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager and board chairman of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan.[3][4]

He is considered a pioneer for African Americans in the auto industry. He once told Forbes magazine, "I've been the first black everywhere I went. One of my jobs is to see I'm not the last."[5]

An August 1988 article published in The New York Times stated Roberts was the second African-American vice-president at GM, after Otis Smith.[6] For much of his career he was the highest-ranking African American in the automobile industry.[1]

Roberts began his professional career working on an assembly line at Lear Siegler while attending Western Michigan University.[1]

Roberts has also served in numerous volunteer and civic organizations.[2] He is a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (the organization's governing body)[7] a former president of the Boy Scouts of America[8] and an officer in the NAACP.[2]

Early life

Roberts was born in 1939, the ninth of ten children, in Magnolia, Arkansas.[9] His mother died when he was two years old and later his father moved the family to Muskegon, Michigan.[10] He describes his upbringing as "dirt-poor."[10] His father worked two jobs (as a foundry employee and as a barber) to support the family. Roberts credits his father with instilling in him the value of education.[9]

Roberts worked full-time while attending Western Michigan University at night, where he graduated with honors, with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.[10]

Bloomfield Hills Country Club controversy

Roberts unwillingly found himself at the center of a controversial event at the Bloomfield Hills Country Club in 1994 when the club refused to admit him after he had applied for membership. Though the club claimed its actions were not based on Roberts' race, G.M.'s president, John F. Smith Jr., and its chief financial officer, J. Michael Losh, chose to resign their memberships with the club because Roberts had been barred from joining.[11]

Roberts was later accepted as a member.[12]

Autobiography

Roberts' autobiography, My American Success Story: Always the First, Never the Last, was published in 2015.[4]

References
  1. "Roy Roberts: From Sharecropper to shareholder - Michigan Chronicle | HighBeam Research". 6 August 1996. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011 – via Highbeam.
  2. Roy S. Roberts. "Roy Roberts: Executive Profile & Biography - BusinessWeek". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  3. "Roy Roberts Biography," Detroit Public Schools detroitk12.org
  4. Polston, Mike. "Roy Roberts (1939-)" Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, 14 June 2017
  5. "A Retired Auto Exec at the Helm of Detroit's Schools". BET.com. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  6. "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Vice President at G.M. Takes Post at Navistar - New York Times". The New York Times. 2 August 1988. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  7. Boy Scouts of America Annual Report 2011 Archived 14 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Boy Scouts of America President. (Speaking of People). | Goliath Business News". Goliath.ecnext.com. 1 February 2003. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  9. Johnson, Anne. Contemporary Black Biography: Roy S. Roberts, Automobile Industry Executive encyclopedia.com, 1997
  10. Johnson Publishing Company (January 1999). Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. pp. 136–. ISSN 0012-9011.
  11. "G.M. Head Quits Club After Black Is Barred - New York Times". The New York Times. 23 October 1994. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  12. "Roy S. Roberts Biography – Automobile Executive, Businessman, Civic Leader". Maxizip.com. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
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