The Executive Leadership Council (ELC) has announced that Crystal E Ashby will serve as The ELC’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Ashby is the first woman President and CEO of the organisation, and succeeds Skip Spriggs who retired at the end of 2019. The ELC board says it will launch a search for a permanent CEO during the first quarter of this year.
Ashby will lead the organisation’s efforts to increase the number of global Black executives in C-Suites, on corporate boards and in global enterprises, until a permanent CEO is recruited. The ELC is a membership organisation for Black CEOs, board directors, and the most senior Black executives at Fortune 1000, Global 500 and equivalent companies, providing opportunities to develop Black executives to positively impact business and communities.
“My association with The ELC goes back more years than I would like to admit,” says Ashby. “I have such a strong affinity for this organisation, our members, and its purpose and mission. I am honoured to have this opportunity to help The ELC pursue its Strategic Vision 2021 and commitment to excellence, particularly as we look towards our 35th anniversary in 2021.”
ACCOMPLISHED SENIOR EXECUTIVE
Ashby is an accomplished senior executive, board member and lawyer with more than 33 years of leadership success mainly in the energy sector. She was most recently Vice Chair of The ELC. Her corporate leadership experience was gained over a 22-year career with BP where her roles spanned government and external affairs, law, compliance and ethics, university relations and retail.
“Having experienced The ELC’s leadership development programmes early in her career, benefiting from the mentoring and sponsorship provided by senior leaders of The ELC and rising through the ranks of corporate leadership to become an active member of the organisation, Crystal embodies the values and culture of The ELC,” said Tonie Leatherberry, ELC Chair and Principal, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and President of the Deloitte Foundation. “She has served The ELC as Chair of the Audit Committee, was an ex-officio member of the Governance Committee, was formerly Co-Chair of the Membership Committee, and was a past voting member of the Governance Committee. Crystal will guide the organisation with a steady hand through its transition.”
Ashby is an Independent Director on the Board of Texas RE (Texas Reliability Entity, Inc) and serves on the University of Michigan College of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board, where she is Chair of the Diversity and Equity and Inclusion Council. She is an NACD Fellow and member of the International Women’s Forum. She recently resigned from the National Board of Genesys Works, the Holocaust Museum Houston Board and Women Business Collaborative (WBC) Board upon assuming her new role at The ELC. Ashby earned her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a double major in English and Psychology, from the University of Michigan.
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