Notable Alumnae
Business/Law
GERTRUDE FISHER ANDERSON (High
School, 1912) - Started the Nanette
Candy Company in Birmingham, AL in 1933.
Before closing the business in 1954, the
company made over $100,000 yearly and produced
800 to 1,000 pounds of candy daily. Nanette
Candies was known nationally and articles
about the business appeared in Ebony, Crisis, Journal
of Negro Business, and the Journal
of Negro History.
CLAIRE COLLINS HARVEY (C’37)
- Earned masters degrees in mortuary
science from Indiana College and personnel
administration from Columbia University.
Shortly after returning to her hometown of
Jackson, Mississippi, she assumed the presidency
of the family businesses, Collins Funeral
Homes and Collins Insurance Company. She
also co-founded and directed the State Mutual
Savings and Loan Association of Jackson,
Mississippi. Collins served on the boards
of Rust College, Tuskegee University, Children’s
Defense Fund, and Atlanta University Center,
Inc.
DOVEY JOHNSON ROUNDTREE, JD (C’38) – A
trial lawyer and civil rights pioneer who helped
desegregate bus travel and fought alongside
Mary McLeod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall and
Martin Luther King Jr.; a founding principle
partner of the firm Roundtree, Knox, Hunter & Parker
in Northwest Washington, DC, she is also an
ordained minister in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church; and model for the character
of the civil rights attorney played by Cicely
Tyson in the 1994 TV drama, Sweet
Justice.
ELYNOR A. WILLIAMS (C’66) – President
and Managing Director of Chestnut Pearson & Associates,
an international management consulting firm
specializing in corporate community interactions
and public responsibility strategies.
J. VERONICA BIGGINS (C'68) – Senior
Partner and Managing Partner of Diversity Service
Practice with Heidrick & Struggles,
an international, senior-level executive search
and leadership development services firm based
in Atlanta; Former Assistant to the President
of the United States and White House Director
of Presidential Personnel (1994-95).
YVONNE
JACKSON (C'70) - Senior Vice President,
Human Resources at Pfizer, Inc., the largest
research-based pharmaceutical company in
the world, where she oversees leadership
development, compensation and benefits for
the company’s 130,000 employees worldwide,
among other responsibilities; Chair of the
Spelman College Board of Trustees.
WANDA
S. LLOYD (C'71) – Named Editor
of the Montgomery Advertiser in
April 2004; Formerly served as Founding Executive
Director of the Freedom Forum Institute for
Newsroom Diversity at Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, TN and as Senior Editor of
USA Today; Member
of the Spelman College Board of Trustees.
RAYMONE BAIN (C'76) – Principle
of Davis, Bain and Associates, based in Washington,
DC; Deemed “one of the most knowledgeable” in
her industry, she is a respected publicist known
for her savvy skills and extensive ties to the
entertainment, sports and political communities;
She has served as spokesperson for Michael Jackson,
Serena Williams, Babyface and Boyz II Men, among
others.
CAROLE RILEY (C’78) – An
acquisition entrepreneur who has served as
Managing Director & Partner of V & J
Foods, Inc., a black-owned restaurant operating
company, which operates Pizza Hut and Burger
King restaurants in New York, Wisconsin and
Michigan.
Ms. Riley once owned two McDonalds restaurants
in New York, including the renowned McDonalds
of Harlem.
JERRI
DEVARD (C’79) – Senior
Vice President for Brand Management and Marketing
Communications for Verizon Communications,
responsible for leading corporate-wide initiatives
to build and strengthen the Verizon brand
worldwide, based in New York, NY; Appointed
to the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation Board of
Directors in February 2004.
KIMBERLY L. DAVIS (C’81) – Managing director and human resources executive for Latin America for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Her responsibilities in Latin America focus on Mexico, Brazil Argentina and Chile. In 2003, President Beverly Daniel Tatum appointed Davis as co- director of the team organized to establish a Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement at Spelman.
KIMBERLY WEEMS, Ph.D. (C’93) – Holds
a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University
of Maryland where she and two classmates were
the first African-American women to earn the
Ph.D. from the university’s mathematics
department in 2001; She is presently a Postdoctoral
Research Associate in the Department of Statistics
at North Carolina State University in Raleigh,
NC.
