Black enterprise celebrates.

On Jan. 24, BLACK ENTERPRISE and the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) held a reception ceremony at Morgan Stanley's headquarters in New York City to celebrate 50 companies making a concerted effort to push for diversity and inclusion. These companies were also featured in the October 2016 issue. Each company received a black enterprise certificate to honor their recognition.

ELC President and CEO Ronald C. Parker also addressed attendees, citing the importance of the need for the full embrace of diversity and inclusion in corporate America.

BLACK ENTERPRISE President and CEO Earl "Butch" Graves Jr. opened the ceremony with a strong welcoming address that applauded the companies for making the list. "Diversity does not happen unless it is intentional," he said.

Motivational speaker Carla Harris, the vice chairman of Wealth Management and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley, congratulated all of the companies for making BE's list but pushed them to do more when it comes to diversity: "In order to get the best idea, you need diverse people in the room so that you have diverse perspectives and diverse experiences, which leads to diverse ideas and therefore, innovation."

"The emerging professionals that I like to call the millennials and the Xers, they will demand to see diversity in the corporations that they choose to commit their lives and their talents to," she said. "They have seen multicultural people lead. They have seen women lead their entire lives, and so that is what excellence looks like for them. So if you want to be the company of choice for the best and brightest that are there and that are coming to the workforce, then you will have to be able to demonstrate that if you want to be able to attract and retain them."

For a complete list of the companies, please visit www.blackenterprise.com.