Paula Price grew up in Chicago and went to school there at DePaul University and University of Chicago. She worked initially in Chicago, then moved to London, before returning to the US. She worked in the consumer products, financial services and retail sectors. She taught at Harvard Business School before returning to corporate to be CFO of Macy’s, retiring in 2021. She now serves on several public company and non-profit boards.
She wanted to serve on boards to continue influencing companies, overseeing value creation, and affecting their culture and societal issues like diversity. Boards were attracted to her finance expertise as well as her unique perspective as a Black woman. She researched boards and CEOs thoroughly when approached and asked questions to understand the strategy, business model, competition, problems, and growth plans.
Effective directors contribute to conversations by providing advice to move issues forward and ask questions to make management reflect. She focuses on value creation, alignment of spending with strategy, having the right people to execute, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She gained peer respect by focusing on issues, not worrying about clubs or labels.
Racial diversity brings different experiences and perspectives that improve decisions, profitability, innovation, and more. She urges leveraging the current moment to increase Black and other diversity in boards and management rather than waiting to see if it is a lasting movement. With Black directors uniting behind a common agenda, they can drive more diversity progress in the next few years. Her life priority is being fully present wherever she is, whether with family, work, or boards.
