TNJ - October - People

C. Adrienne Rhodes

C. Adrienne Rhodes, 38, is the highest-ranking African American female executive at the leading daily newspaper in the New York Metropolitan area—the New York Daily News. Last year, she became the first woman of color to be appointed vice-president in the 79-year-history of the paper.

Before joining the New York Daily News, Rhodes was the director of communications at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). While Rhodes worked for UNCF, she established herself as an innovator and as a leader. She handled the restructuring and operations management of the division that served as the public relations arm of the $60 million charity. She had spent the previous years in circulation and promotion services at The New York Times Company Magazine Group and was the public relations manager at Diane Von Furstenburg Inc.

She serves on the National Political Congress of Black Women’s Media and Entertainment Commission, and is the winner of numerous awards including Martin Luther King Jr. Living the Dream Award presented by the Governor of the State of New York. She was this year’s chair of the 21st Century Women’s Leadership Conference.

She has served as a consultant for the African American-owned entertainment management and comic book marketing firms of Hush Productions and Milestone Media, a Time Warner affiliated company. Rhodes completed course work leading to the B.S., Marketing, at the State University of New York at F.I.T. She has completed course work with honors at New York University’s School of Film, Video and Broadcasting.

Ray Wilkins

Ray Wilkins has been named president and CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone company, and replaces John Atterbury, who has been named president and CEO of SBC Broadband Services.

He will oversee the company’s more than $16 million access lines, providing basic and advanced communications services to more than 14 million customers in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Wilkins served as president of Pacific Bell’s business communications services, where he was responsible for all business market sales, customer service, financial performance, and the Pacific Bell Network Integration and Pacific Bell Information Services. Before taking on those responsibilities, he was regional vice president for Southwestern Bell’s Kansas/Western Missouri market.

Wilkins began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1974 as a commercial assistant. He then held a variety of customer service, marketing and comptroller positions before being named assistant vice president business marketing and sales in 1990. He serves on the board of directors for Smart Valley Inc., and for California Polytechnic Institute State University. For three consecutive years from 1995, he was listed among the 100 most influential African Americans by Kansas City Press.

He was born in Waco, Texas, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas in 1974. In 1997, he attended the University of Pittsburgh’s management program.

Rosell R. Caswel

Rosell R. Caswel, director of new Student Orientation at Florida A&M University, has been elected president of the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals (NASAP). One of her major goals is to expand the membership of the organization.

As president of NASAP, she will represent the association at mid-year, regional and national meetings and preside over all meetings of the executive board. Her responsibilities include appointing committee chairpersons and providing them with guidance and support as needed for the planning and implementation of conferences and a student leadership institute, promoting fiscal accountability and responsibility, and presenting progress reports at the mid-year and national conferences.

Caswell has a bachelors of science degree in business education, and a masters of education guidance and counseling from Florida A&M University.

Aubrey W. Lee

Aubrey W. Lee of Orchard Lake has been elected to the William Beaumont Hospital Board of directors. He is the first African American chairman in the hospital’s 43-year history. Lee’s leadership of the Beaumont board is the latest in a series of “firsts” in his life. He blazed a number of trails including senior vice presidency of Municipal Banking Group in 1970 in which he was the first African American to lead a major bank in the U.S.

He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., for one year and then transferred to West Virginia State College where he earned a bachelors of arts degree in political science in 1955. He received his masters of arts degree from Marshall University in Huntington, VA in 1956, and was honored this year as a distinguished alumnus. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1965 after nine years, having attained the rank of captain.

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