Corporate Leadership
NBA Star Risks Billions for Failing to Diversify Executive Ranks
One of the biggest Black-owned auto suppliers in the U.S. is fighting to keep a minority designation that helped it thrive.
Photographer: Robert Rogers via Piston Group
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Vinnie Johnson went from a clutch player for the championship Detroit Pistons to owner of one of the biggest Black-owned auto suppliers in the U.S. Now, the entrepreneur says he’s at risk of losing up to $2.5 billion in contracts because his company’s executive ranks are too White.
The Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council stripped Johnson’s company, Piston Group LLC, of its “minority” status, a designation that gave him a foot in the door of global automakers, which award lucrative supply-chain contracts to companies that are owned by and hire people of color.