Dallas City Wire

Christopher Plumlee said he helped found the African American Executive Networking Forum to shine a light on people and businesses that deserved the attention.

“We started the AAENF eight years ago to bring exceptional leaders together to network, fellowship and find avenues to uplift and support each other,” Plumlee told Dallas City Wire. “We found there were brilliant leaders and amazing companies no one ever heard of. We felt there was a real opportunity to bring these folks together for a few hours where they could meet other like-minded individuals who could assist them with opening doors to greater opportunities, finding capital and just brain-storming.

“We have had some amazing guest speakers to include Kneeland Youngblood (Pharos Capital), Cynt Marshall (Mavericks), Roland Parrish (McDonald’s franchise owner) and Corey Anthony (SVP, AT&T) and Sheryl Adkins Green (Global CMO, Mary Kay) just to name a few.”

Christopher Plumlee | Provided

He believes African American professionals can – and must – do a better job of supporting and empowering other Black people.

“Yes! Without a doubt,” Plumlee said. “That was also why we started the group. As a community, we have to do a much better job of uplifting each other and opening doors for each other. Too often, we think, 'Well, my company will only promote one African American to the C-suite, so I can’t help anyone else because they are effectively my competition to reach the corner office.'"

That has to end, in his view.

“We must get away from this pernicious thinking,” Plumlee said. “Our goal is to work assiduously to ‘Expand the Pie’ so everyone gets more. We do not think it is a zero-sum game.”

He said the association invites people to join and share their knowledge and benefit from others. Diversity is welcomed.

“Our members cover the full gamut,” Plumlee said. “As I look at our members that are currently looking for exciting, new career opportunities, many of these folks are in HR, IT, cyber-security, operations and financial/wealth management.”

He understands people may prefer to do business with a real estate agent, salesperson or attorney of a certain race to achieve their desired outcome.

“Most certainly,” Plumlee said. “People like to partner with people they know, like, trust and respect. Oftentimes, there can be very strong bonds of trust and respect built out of shared life experiences.”

He speaks from experience.

“I was a senior sales leader for some of the largest companies in North America for 25 years,” Plumlee said. “Two old maxims are universally true: People look for ways to partner with people they know, like, trust and respect. And, life is all about relationships. People would prefer to work with folks from their neighborhood, church, school, country club, etc.

“Unfortunately, the 45-year-old white purchase agent may not have strong relationships with folks from our community,” he said. “The inherent trust and respect may not be there, so they are more naturally predisposed to partnering with the sales rep that looks like them and shares similar life experiences.”

Plumlee said there are still hurdles to overcome, biases to face and problems to address. In many cases, it’s matter of education and experience.

“We certainly know stereotypes about African Americans remain a pervasive issue in our society,” he said. “If their perception is someone from our community is not going to be prepared, organized, informed and reliable, why would they make the decision to partner with them?”

He stresses that is important to consider all options, all companies, all people before making a decision.

“The real point we try to amplify in the AAENF is don’t categorically rule out an African American company by assuming they will provide poor service and a shoddy product,” Plumlee said. “Look for real, meaningful opportunities to partner and collaborate with those companies.”

Plumlee knows a great deal about that after a 25-year career that has included senior leadership positions with Bank of America, Eastman Kodak, Staples, Dell and Hewlett Packard. He said he was viewed as a “dynamic, transformative, servant-leader” whose teams consistently over-delivered revenue plans and were renowned for extraordinary customer service.

In 2013, Plumlee founded Elevate Strategy Group, a sales consultancy firm where he works with clients on sales strategy, client engagement, coaching, leadership development and training.

He has forged partnerships with world-class organizations like Dannon, LegalZoom, D.A.R.T, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Aramark and the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas.

In addition to his business career, Plumlee has served on numerous corporate boards. He currently is on the boards of INROADS Inc. and One Man’s Treasure and is the executive board chair for Catholic Charities, Fort Worth. Plumlee also serves on the Sky Ranch advisory board.

His sister, Andrea Plumlee, is the presiding judge in the 330th Family District Court in Dallas County.

"My sister, Andrea, is an exceptional, world-class judge,” he said. “Our family and community is extremely proud of Andrea. Just like Lady Justice, my sister applies the law in an impartial and objective manner without exception.”

She sets an example by treating the people who come before her in a fair and professional manner, he said, and others could learn from that.

However, he said a bias – conscious or unconscious – can exist in the minds of jurists and jurors when they deal with people who are different from them.

“I certainly think that can be true in some cases. There is an absolute corollary between trust/credibility and being able to relate/connect with someone,” Plumlee said. “Folks can be more inclined to trust/believe someone who looks like them, sounds like them and has shared life experiences.”

These are some of the realities that young people must be prepared for as they enter the corporate world, in his view.

“We have to do a much better job at mentoring, coaching and developing the emerging leaders. We have to do an appreciably better job of advocating for them and opening doors for them,” Plumlee said. “I mentor about 10 emerging leaders today. These young people are incredibly bright, creative, innovative and dynamic, with an indefatigable work ethic. If we can help get them a seat at the table, they will absolutely be prepared to excel.”

Plumlee and his wife of 22 years, Natalie, an attorney at Chubb Inc., live in Murphy with their “amazing son” Hamilton August Prescott, 14.