Dmitri grew up on a family farm in North Carolina, which taught him the value of hard work and dealing with adversity. He studied Accounting at North Carolina A&T before starting his career at Arthur Anderson. He soon decided he wanted to be a corporate executive in Financial Services instead. He spent 30 years at GE
Capital, including 10 years running businesses abroad. He had leadership roles managing banks and later ran GE’s Global Asset Management business before retiring.
Towards the end of his GE career, Dmitri was approached by two Fortune 50 companies about joining their boards. John Deere was especially meaningful since he had used their equipment on his family’s farm. Dmitri believes effective directors understand governance and don’t try to run the company. He prepares extensively for meetings by reading investor reports and understands where shareholders stand.
Diversity of viewpoints on boards creates better outcomes. When joining a new board, Dmitri spends his first year intently listening and learning before fully contributing. He cultivates strong relationships with fellow Directors. His financial background has enabled him to effectively lead board committees like Compensation and Audit.
Regarding the future for Black board members, Dmitri is optimistic because of the high number of Blacks leading divisions at major corporations today who can become strong future board candidates. It is important for current Directors to actively mentor and advocate for up and coming diverse leaders. Boards also need to willingly debate adding diversity during director selection processes, even when it means taking additional risk.
