Chapter 2 Erroll Davis Jr. 1988 Black Engineer of the Year Erroll B. Davis Jr., a B.S.-holder in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in his native Pittsburgh, won an IBM Fellowship to complete his M.B.A. studies at the University of Chicago in 1967 before launching a career that made him the highest ranking Black American executive in the utility business. Davis, a Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet at Carnegie Mellon, served in the Army’s Tank Automotive Command at a maintenance facility in Warren, Mich., from 1967 to 1969. The Vietnam conflict was raging, and many in Davis’ generation were heading off to fight in Southeast Asia, but Davis jokes that the Army sent him to Michigan because of his poor eyesight. Davis spent his time learning how to manage a multimillion-dollar technology organization and digging into what it took to keep his hardware running at optimal levels. He didn’t go far from his Michigan posting when he mustered out. After fulfilling his ROTC active duty obligations, Davis joined Ford Motor Co., an outfit whose reputation for opening up career opportunities for minorities goes all the way back to Henry Ford’s leadership during the 1930s. He worked for four years in the Finance Department of Ford Motor Company. Then, he left for a slightly longer stint at Xerox Corporation, another integrated manufacturer. Again, he served on the finance staff, moving up as he learned what it takes to keep Xerox humming. Davis signed on at Wisconsin Power & Light (WP&L) in 1978 as vice president of finance, joining his contemporary Cordell Reed at Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison in a tiny class of Black utility executives. Reed, a South Side public housing alumnus who was only the third Black American to complete the mechanical engineering major at the University of Illinois-Urbana, had in 1975 become a department head and public spokesman for nuclear power. Now retired, Reed is a widely respected member of the National Academy of Engineering.
15
