Best Buy Co. Inc. announced that it had appointed Richelle Parham to its board of directors, effective immediately.
Parham, named to BE’s 2015 Most Powerful Women in Corporate America, is a partner at Baltimore-based Camden Partners Holdings, a private equity firm that provides growth and seed capital to lower-middle-market companies in technology, business services, education, and healthcare.
“Richelle has a proven track record in global strategy and marketing—especially personalized digital marketing—and a deep understanding of e-commerce and the fundamental needs of consumers,” said Best Buy Chairman and CEO Hubert Joly. “Her expertise and insights will have great value as we move forward with our Best Buy 2020: Building the New Blue growth strategy.”
A seasoned executive with more than 25 years’ experience in global strategy and marketing, Parham served as vice president and chief marketing officer for eBay prior to joining Camden Partners Holdings in 2016. She was responsible, globally, for eBay’s brand strategy and brand marketing, reaching 108-plus million active eBay users. She served as head of Global Marketing Innovation and Initiatives and head of Global Marketing Services of Visa, Inc. from 2008 to 2010. She spent 13 years at Digitas Inc., where she held a variety of senior leadership roles, including general manager of the agency’s Chicago office. She has been a director of Ranir L.L.C. since September 2017 and has been an independent director at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings since 2016. She has also held senior leadership roles at Rapp Worldwide and Citibank.
“I am delighted to join the Board and look forward to working with Hubert and the other directors as Best Buy continues to execute on its vision to enrich people’s lives through technology,” Parham said.
An advocate for empowering female leaders through STEM programs, Parham sits on the advisory boards of Girls Who Code and has also been the director of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. since 2012. Parham, 50, earned a double degree in Business Administration and Design Arts from Drexel University, where she has served as a member of the board of trustees since 2014.
Parham was named to Savoy’s 2016 “Power 300, Most Influential Black Corporate Directors,” Forbes’ 2014 “50 Most Influential CMOs in the World,” and Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business 1000.” She has received the Women of Influence award by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal and has been inducted into the World Association for Cooperative Education Co-op Hall of Fame.
Since 2005, Black Enterprise has been publishing the 50 Best Companies For Diversity list, identifying corporations that have developed a culture and executing policies that promoted inclusion of African Americans within their workforce, senior management ranks, corporate boards and supplier pools.
Last summer, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion and took the Parity Pledge, promising to interview at least one qualified woman candidate for every position, vice president and above.
So far this month, a number of African Americans have taken up board seats and corporate executive positions from Kenneth Kelly’s appointment as the new chief executive of First Independence Bank of Detroit, to Intel adding a black doctor to its board of directors and Sonia Cargan’s appointment at American Express.