Janice Bryant Howroyd

Last updated
Janice Bryant Howroyd
Born (1952-09-01) September 1, 1952 (age 72)
Tarboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma mater North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO, The ActOne Group
Spouse
Bernard Howroyd
​
​
(m. 1983; died  2020)​
Website askjbh.com

Janice Bryant Howroyd (born September 1, 1952) is an entrepreneur, businesswoman, and author. She is founder and chief executive officer of The ActOne Group, [1] the largest privately held, minority-woman-owned personnel company founded in the U.S. [2] [3] Howroyd is the first African-American woman to build and own a billion dollar company. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Early life

Janice Bryant was born on September 1, 1952, in Tarboro, North Carolina, the fourth of 11 children in her family. [7] As a teen, she was one of the first African American students to participate in desegregation of her town's high school. [8] [9]

Career

In 1976, Howroyd moved to Los Angeles, California, and worked as a temporary secretary for her brother-in-law, Tom Noonan, at Billboard magazine. [10] [11] [12] [13] While at Billboard, Noonan introduced Howroyd to business executives, celebrities, travel, and workplace diversity. [10]

With an approximate budget of $1,000 [14] [15] Howroyd continued to focus on employment services and launched her own company, The ACT 1 Group, in a small Beverly Hills, California, office in 1978, with Tom Noonan as her first client. [16] [17] ActOne Group companies include AppleOne, All's Well, AT-Tech, ACT-1 Personnel Services, Agile-1, ACT-1Govt, A-Check Global, which provide personnel and recruiting services to different industries, and DSSI, which provides document management services. [18]

Howroyd is an ambassador of the Department of Energy's Minorities in Energy Initiative, [19] a board member to numerous organizations including the United States Department of Labor's Workforce Initiative Board, [20] Women's Business Enterprise National Council, WeConnect, National Utilities Diversity Council, Harvard Women's Leadership Board, California Science Center, Los Angeles Urban League and a member of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Services and Finance Industries of the U.S. Trade Representative and the United States Department of Commerce. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. [21]

In May 2016 Howroyd received a key presidential appointment by President Barack Obama as a member of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. [22] [23] [24] In 2017 she joined the Diversity Committee of the FCC. [25]

Since 2016, Howroyd has served on the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Board of Directors as an officer as Treasurer. [26] [27]

Bibliography

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ursula Burns</span> American businessperson

Ursula M. Burns is an American businesswoman. Burns is known for her tenure as the CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016. In this role, Burns was the first black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first woman to follow another as the head of a Fortune 500 company. Burns remained the chairman at Xerox from 2010 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weili Dai</span> Chinese-born American businesswoman

Weili Dai is a Chinese-born American businesswoman. She is the co-founder, former director and former president of Marvell Technology Group. Dai is a successful entrepreneur, and the only female co-founder of a major semiconductor company. In 2015, she was listed as the 95th richest woman in the world by Forbes. Her estimated net worth is US$1.3 billion, as of June 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Blakely</span> American businesswoman (born 1971)

Sara Treleaven Blakely is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the founder of Spanx, an American intimate apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely was named in Time magazine's "Time 100" annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2014, she was listed as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tory Burch</span> American fashion designer and businesswoman (born 1966)

Tory Burch is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020.

Rosalind G. Brewer is an American businesswoman and former CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, before stepping down in September 2023. Brewer is the first woman to become CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, group president and COO of Starbucks, and CEO of Sam's Club. She currently serves as a member of the President's Export Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendra Scott</span> American fashion designer (born 1974)

Kendra Scott is an American fashion designer. She is the executive chairwoman, designer, and former chief executive officer of Kendra Scott, LLC. In 2017, she was named Ernst & Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saundarya Rajesh</span> Indian businesswoman

Saundarya Rajesh is an Entrepreneur who is the founder and president of Avtar Group. She is known for Second Career opportunities for women in corporate India. She runs Project Puthri to empower underprivileged girls with employment. She was awarded the ‘100 Women Achievers of India’ in 2016 by the Minister of Women and Child Development for her work. She received the Women Transforming India Award from the NITI Aayog and the United Nations in 2016. Her debut book, The 99 Day Diversity Challenge: Creating an Inclusive Workplace (2018), was published by SAGE Publishing.

Jane Buchan is the Chief Executive Officer of Martlet Asset Management, LLC.

Eren Ozmen is a billionaire Turkish-American businesswoman, and the majority co-owner and president of the private aerospace and defense company, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly Bryant (technologist)</span> African American electrical engineer

Kimberly Bryant is an American electrical engineer who worked in the biotechnology field at Genentech, Novartis Vaccines, Diagnostics, and Merck. In 2011, Bryant founded Black Girls Code, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing technology and computer programming education to African-American girls. After founding Black Girls Code, Bryant was listed as one of the "25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology" by Business Insider.

Women in venture capital or VC are investors who provide venture capital funding to startups. Women make up a small fraction of the venture capital private equity workforce. A widely used source for tracking the number of women in venture capital is the Midas List which has been published by Forbes since 2001. Research from Women in VC, a global community of women venture investors, shows that the percentage of female VC partners is just shy of 5 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Shekhar Sharma</span> Founder and CEO of Paytm

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur and multimillionaire business magnate. He is the founder chairman, and managing director of One97 Communications founded in 1997 and its consumer brand Paytm which he started in 2010.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation is a New York–based, not-for-profit private foundation that is a subsidiary of the financial services firm Goldman Sachs and has the goal of bettering humanity worldwide, especially regarding health and education. In recent years its principal philanthropic projects have been: 10,000 Women, and 10,000 Small Businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cindy Eckert</span> American entrepreneur

Cindy Eckert is an American entrepreneur known for founding Sprout Pharmaceuticals. She subsequently founded The Pink Ceiling which invests in companies founded by, or delivering products for, women. In November 2017, Eckert re-acquired Sprout Pharmaceuticals as part of a lawsuit settlement, and the rights to its drug Addyi, from Valeant after Valeant's stock collapsed due to insider trading and price jacking allegations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afua Osei</span> American entrepreneur

Afua Osei is an entrepreneur, investor and public speaker who co-founded She Leads Africa, a media company for millennial African women.

Rebecca MacDonald is a Serbian Canadian businesswoman that lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Recipient of several business awards, she is founder and executive chair of Just Energy Group Inc., an energy commodities trading company.

Women have been active in the cannabis industry, cannabis legalization, cannabis testing, and cannabis rights since the earliest days of commercialization, but they have also faced gendered obstacles impeding their growth in an industry worth over 12 million dollars since 2019. "The American cannabis industry accounted for $10 billion of 2018’s [global] figures, with the average U.S. dispensary pulling in $3 million a year."

Elizabeth Elting is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She co-founded and served as co-chief executive officer of TransPerfect, the world's largest translation services provider, for 25 years. She has been named to Forbes magazine's list of the Richest Self-Made Women since 2016, with a net worth of $420 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marla Malcolm Beck</span> American entrepreneur

Marla Malcolm Beck is an entrepreneur based in the United States. She co-founded the beauty company Bluemercury in Washington, D.C. alongside her husband, Barry J. Beck in 1999. Bluemercury was acquired by Macy's in 2015. Beck retained her position as CEO until 2021.

Kimberly Ann Eddleston is the Schulze Distinguished Professorof Entrepreneurship, and Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Her expertise on subjects related to family business management and small business management is quoted in US sources. She has received many academic awards by US institutions and is a leading editor of several academic journals.

References

  1. ↑ "About ACT•1". ACT•1.
  2. ↑ La-Keya Stinchcomb. "Janice Bryant Howroyd: First black woman to own billion dollar c - WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather & Sports". Wtoc.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  3. ↑ "ACT•1 The Largest Certified Woman-Minority-Owned Staffing Agency in the U.S". Act-1.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  4. ↑ "Meet Janice Bryant Howroyd, the first African American woman to run a $1-billion business". Los Angeles Times. February 11, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Janice Bryant Howroyd becomes first African American woman to run a billion-dollar business". ajc.
  6. ↑ "Janice Bryant Howroyd: It's Not What They Call You, It's What You Answer To". September 20, 2018 – via www.wsj.com.
  7. ↑ "Entrepreneur Mom: Janice Bryant Howroyd". Working Mother. 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  8. ↑ "From Beyonce to Janice Bryant Howroyd, 14 black women who changed business and finance". Cnbc.com. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  9. ↑ "Janice Bryant Howroyd facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Janice Bryant Howroyd". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  10. 1 2 "Janice Bryant Howroyd: The Boss". Her Daily. 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  11. ↑ Uwumarogie, Victoria (17 February 2017). "Women Of Black History: 5 Things To Know About Janice Bryant Howroyd". Madamenoire.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  12. ↑ "How Janice Bryant Howroyd puts humanity in human resources at Act 1 Group - Smart Business Magazine". Sbnonline.com. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  13. ↑ James Flanigan (2009-10-14). "Being the Entrepreneur of Your Own Career". The New York Times . Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  14. ↑ "25 Black Women Entrepreneurs". Essence.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  15. ↑ "Janice Bryant Howroyd facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Janice Bryant Howroyd". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  16. ↑ "janice bryant howroyd interview". Makingittv.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  17. ↑ "ACT.1 Group, Inc.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg . Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  18. ↑ "ActOne Group: Janice Bryant Howroyd : How I Built This with Guy Raz". NPR.org.
  19. ↑ "Janice Bryant Howroyd". United States Department of Energy.
  20. ↑ "Layout 1" (PDF). Hks.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  21. ↑ "ACT•1 Group". Act1group.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  22. ↑ "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov . 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2017-02-28– via National Archives.
  23. ↑ "Obama Appoints Our A.G. Gaston Award Recipient". Blackenterprise.com. 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  24. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2017-02-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ↑ Eggerton, John (8 September 2017). "FCC Names Diversity Committee Members". Broadcasting & Cable.
  26. ↑ "CBCF Announces New Officers and Directors for its Board". February 17, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Meet the Board » Congressional Black Caucus Foundation » Advancing the Global Black Community by Developing Leaders Informing Policy and Educating the Public".
  28. ↑ Howroyd, Janice Bryant (23 April 2009). The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work for You!. Act1. ISBN   978-0615292984.
  29. ↑ Howroyd, Janice Bryant (13 August 2019). Acting up: Winning in Business and Life Using Down-Home Wisdom. Lioncrest. ISBN   978-1544504568.
  30. ↑ "2015 Class of Inductees/Past Inductees - National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame". Nbcahof.com. 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  31. ↑ "Billion Dollar Businesswoman Receives Top Award". Blackenterprise.com. 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  32. ↑ Grace Meng (NY). "WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY 2022". Congressional Record 117: 178 (November 17, 2022). p. E1163. https://www.congress.gov/117/crec/2022/11/17/168/178/CREC-2022-11-17-pt1-PgE1163-4.pdf
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.