Black Innovation:
g By Mike Green
Hidden History Occurring Today
When Dean Baquet ascended to the position of executive editor of The New York Times, it was a monumental moment in media history. A black man was appointed head of the “Old Gray Lady,” widely regarded as the pinnacle platform of respected daily newspaper journalism. It was a moment reminiscent of another one that occurred earlier this year in Seattle, Washington to far lesser fanfare and media coverage. John Thompson succeeded Bill Gates as Chairman of the Board of Microsoft. The media landscape responded with a sleepy yawn.
Understandably, the name John Thompson conjures up mental images of a former basketball coach from Georgetown University. Journalists apparently weren’t very interested in a black CEO from Silicon Valley (Virtual Instruments) inheriting a seat atop one of the most influential technology companies in America. The story could barely crawl out of Silicon Valley. Thompson is a graduate of an HBCU (Florida A&M University) and was the only black man in America at the turn of the century who headed a major technology company (Symantec), which he grew from a $600 million company into a global giant worth $11 billion when he decided to step down as chairman of the board and start another company.
Sadly, it came as a surprise to black leaders in Seattle when I mentioned the appointment of Thompson as Gates’ successor during my speech weeks later. That’s
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Dean Baquet, then-New York Times managing editor, at the 2011 National Association of Black Journalists convention in Philadelphia, with Mike Green. (Photo by Terry Baquet.)