Exec. VP, Worldwide Operations
Miller Brewing Co.
Age: 65
VIRGIS W. COLBERT, Retired Executive Vice President, Miller Brewing Company (brewer) from 1997 to December 2005. Mr. Colbert joined Miller Brewing in 1979 and served as Senior Vice President-Worldwide Operations from 1995 to 1997 and as Vice President Operations from 1993 to 1995. He became a director of Sara Lee in January 2006. Mr. Colbert serves as a director of Bank of America Corporation, Lorillard, Inc., The Manitowoc Company, Inc. and Stanley Black & Decker. He previously served as a director of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Delphi Corporation.
Colbert told the authors of Cracking the Corporate Code: The Revealing Success Stories of 32 African-American Executives that he felt he'd been pigeonholed as a "black manager" at Chrysler, where he was general superintendent of manufacturing. His decision to become assistant to the plant manager at one of Miller's North Carolina facilities in 1979 paid off. He now manages 7,000 employees in its multibillion-dollar plant operation, which includes brewing, research, quality assurance, engineering, purchasing, and information systems. He's also involved with Miller's corporate operations planning and improvement. Miller's South Africa-based parent company, SABMiller plc, is one of the world's largest brewers with $8 billion in sales in 2003.
Colbert told the authors of Cracking the Corporate Code: The Revealing Success Stories of 32 African-American Executives that he felt he'd been pigeonholed as a "black manager" at Chrysler, where he was general superintendent of manufacturing. His decision to become assistant to the plant manager at one of Miller's North Carolina facilities in 1979 paid off. He now manages 7,000 employees in its multibillion-dollar plant operation, which includes brewing, research, quality assurance, engineering, purchasing, and information systems. He's also involved with Miller's corporate operations planning and improvement. Miller's South Africa-based parent company, SABMiller plc, is one of the world's largest brewers with $8 billion in sales in 2003.
