By Brittney Oliver
Essence
On April 1, 2021, WarnerMedia’s Pascal Desroches will become AT&T’s first Black chief financial officer. This news comes after the recent announcement that AT&T’s current CFO, John Stephens, will retire after working 28 years with the company.
This is not the first time Desroches has held the position of chief financial officer. Desroches was the CFO at WarnerMedia. The company is one of four distinct business units operating under AT&T. Black CFOs are rare. In fact, he represents the 1% of Black professionals who hold the title at a Fortune 100 company, according to the 2020 Stanford Corporate Governance Research Initiative. Meanwhile, there are 92% of CFOs at a Fortune 100 who are white, and there are currently no Black women who hold the title.
Desroches is Haitian-American and brings his experience overseeing the finances of AT&T’s media umbrella. According to Bloomberg, this move coincides with the company’s “efforts to integrate the media business and focus on core areas, including wireless, fiber-optic broadband and the HBO Max streaming service.”
AT&T’s chief executive officer, John Stankey, worked with Desroches at WarnerMedia and shared his excitement to work with him again. “I look forward to working closely with him again as we execute on our plans across AT&T to invest in our growth platforms, operate effectively and efficiently, and deliver value to our investors and customers,” he shared.
Desroches holds a B.S. in accounting from St. John’s University and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School at Columbia University.
