Welcome to the second annual Power 100 Business Leaders of Color.
The men and women on this list have risen to the top, as leaders of Western New York companies and organizations, as trusted board members and as inspirational examples for the next generation.
We considered factors such as the size of a workforce, an organization's revenue and a leader's time in a position. We also looked at community impact and influence: If he or she makes a phone call, how quickly does it get returned? (Note: For this list, we focused only on business and nonprofit leaders and not on politicians or religious leaders, despite their influence.)
For almost four decades, we at Buffalo Business First have been watching — and writing about — powerful business leaders throughout the region. In 2013, we launched the annual Power 250. In 2016, we added the Power 100 (now 200) Women.
Why do we have three separate lists? Many people appear on all three, after all. Men and women from underrepresented groups continue to face additional barriers on the way to the boardroom, from access to capital to a lack of relationships with those already in power to biases, unconscious and otherwise.
Today, we celebrate them.
Watch for more to come about the business leaders on this list, along with our annual ranking, in November online and in the paper.
2023 Power 100 Business Leaders of Color
- Lavonne Ansari, Community Health Center of Buffalo
- Al-Nisa Banks, The Challenger
- James Baptiste, Anowara Architecture P.C.
- Ian Barrett, Kaleida Health
- Thomas Beauford Jr., Buffalo Urban League
- Herbert Bellamy, Bellamy Enterprises/Buffalo Black Achievers
- Mark Blue, NAACP
- Sheila Brown, Vision Multi-Media, WUFO 1080 AM radio
- Darian Bryan, The Plating Society
- Shannon Bryant, Kaleida Health
- Rosalind Burgin, MMB Realty Group/Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors
- Trina Burruss, United Way of Buffalo & Erie County
- Tye and Courtney Caldwell, ShearShare
- Gregory Carballada, Foit-Albert Associates
- Hans Cassagnol, Catholic Health
- George Chamoun, ACV Auctions
- Aaron Chang, Sisters of Charity Hospitals, Catholic Health
- Michael Chapman, Fruit Belt Community Development Corp./St. John Baptist Church
- Joseph Chow, TeamHealth Ambulatory Care
- Catherine Collins, New York State Board of Regents
- Richard Cummings, Black Chamber of Commerce of WNY
- Fadi Dagher, Cedarland Development Group
- Greg Daniel, Luthuli Group
- Andrew Davis, Erie County Medical Center
- Latricia Davis, West Herr Automotive Group
- Bassam Deeb, Trocaire College
- Peter DeJesus, Western NY Area Labor Federation
- John Elmore, The Law Office of John V. Elmore P.C.
- Leecia Eve, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Steve Finch, Viridi Parente Inc.
- Christian Gaddis, 43North's Forge Buffalo
- Karla Gadley, Five Star Bank
- Fatai Gbadamosi, Evergreen Health
- Allie George, Seneca Gaming Corp.
- Osbell Gordon, Delaware North
- Dominique Goss, M&T Charitable Foundation
- Joseph Hanna, Goldberg Segalla
- Andy Hakes, AireXpert
- Nina Heard, General Motors Co., GM Tonawanda Engine
- Kenneth and Sharon Holley, Zawadi Books
- Tyra Johnson Hux, LISC WNY
- Glenn Jackson, M&T Bank
- Rene Jones, M&T Bank
- Dwayne Jones, Community Hope Builders CDC Inc./Mt. Aaron Baptist Church
- Irfan Khan, Circuit Clinical
- Joseph Khoury, Rachel’s Mediterranean
- Thomas Kim, Community Action Organization of WNY
- Pamela Lee, Erie County Medical Center
- Wayne Lewis Jr., Houghton University
- Yexi Liu, Rich Products Corp.
- Brenda McDuffie, Erie County Industrial Development Agency
- Faisal Merani, Merani Hotel Group
- Brandye Merriweather, Buffalo Urban Development Corp.
- Deiver Montes, Avalon Sports
- James Morrell, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
- Kevin Nephew, Seneca Gaming Corp.
- George Nicholas, Buffalo Center for Health Equity
- Magdalena Nichols, Jericho Road Community Health Center
- Adetope Ogunniyi, Tesla
- Chiwuike Owunwanne, Keybank
- Jennifer Parker, Jackson Parker Communications LLC
- Derrick Parson, The Exchange at Beverly Gray
- Jay Patel, Rudra Management, Rosewood Hotels and Empire Hotel Group
- Shantelle Patton, That Brown Bag/Urban Chamber of Commerce
- Adam Perry, Hodgson Russ LLP
- Rene Petties-Jones, National Federation for Just Communities Western New York
- Daniella Piper, New York Power Authority
- Nagendra Raina, Buffalo Games
- Sheila Rayam, Buffalo News
- Chandra Redfern, Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers
- Shatorah Roberson, Tesla
- Catherine Roberts, Resource Council of WNY
- Casimiro Rodriguez, Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York
- Luis Rodriguez, Rodriguez Construction
- Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Trini Ross, Western District of New York
- Eugenio Russi, Erie County Medical Center
- Riffat Sadiq, WNY Medical PC
- Rose Sconiers, Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable
- JC Seneca, Native Pride Travel Plaza, Six Nations Manufacturing, Tallchief Hemp and Tallchief Native Pride Fuel
- Amin Serehali, Independent Health
- Rupa Shanmugam, Sopark Corp.
- Muhammad Shoaib, Papa John’s, Church’s Texas Chicken, Moe’s Southwest Grill
- Adnan Siddiqui, Jacobs Institute/UB Neurosurgery
- Esmeralda Sierra, Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York
- Carmen Snell, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Larry and Jacqueline Stitts, The Golden Cup
- Steve Stoute, Canisius University
- DeWan Stroud, BestSelf Behavioral Health
- Ashok Subramanian, Centivo
- Thurman Thomas, 34 Group
- Natascha Thomas, Sparq
- Satish Tripathi, University at Buffalo
- Adiam Tsegai, SUNY Erie
- Stephen Tucker, Northland Workforce Training Center
- Raul Vazquez, CinqCare of NY
- Anthony Vazquez, Citi
- Edward Watts Jr., Watts Architects and Engineers
- Samantha White, Minority Bar Association of Western New York
- Tonja Williams, Buffalo Public Schools