Toni Townes-Whitley is honored but doesn’t want her celebrity status to be an issue.
USA Today recently announced her as one of their Women of the Year. She’s the CEO of SAIC, a $7 billion technology company that provides engineering, digital and artificial intelligence solutions for space agencies and national defense like the Army, Navy and Space Force.
Before taking the position at SAIC, she was the president of U.S.-regulated industries at Microsoft. She is just one of two Black women currently running a Fortune 500 company, according to USA Today.
She told the outlet she doesn’t believe she needs to state “It’s not a bold move to have me in this role” because she’s earned the role.
“I want to move beyond how surprising it is,” Townes-Whitley said. “Let’s get to a place where this is part of the DNA, and the excitement is that I’m a CEO, not just that I’m a Black, female CEO- that’s what the future looks like.”
She further discussed being a role model in her position.
“I’ve always felt representatively responsible,” she said. “Whether it was appropriate or not, in our family, you knew you represented people of color and women, groups that didn’t have an opportunity. There was an expectation not just of giving back, but of pushing forward and setting a new bar.”
Townes-Whitley said she’s had to deal with the microaggressions of being a Black woman in professional settings and deals with those aggressions by realizing the root of the criticism and recognizing she’s not the first person to face those critiques.
