Editor’s note: Sandra Evers-Manly was named Diversity & Inclusion Executive of the Year on Nov. 12.
The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 8, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place virtually Nov. 12.
Next is Diversity & Inclusion Executive of the Year finalist Sandra Evers-Manly, who’s vice president of global corporate responsibility at Northrop Grumman Corp.
For over two decades, Evers-Manly has built a remarkable career at Northrop Grumman. She joined the aerospace giant as an intern following her junior year of college at just 22 years of age. Today, she’s the vice president of global corporate responsibility and the president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Along the way, she’s received multiple awards for her tireless work as a champion of diversity and inclusion from corporate, entertainment and civil rights organizations.
Evers-Manly grew up in Mississippi and is the first cousin of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. His legendary activism inspired her from an early age to confront and address inequality wherever she saw it. Her contributions at Northrop Grumman have helped make the company a model of diversity in its industry. Diversity Inc. Magazine ranked Northrop Grumman No. 23 overall in the country for diversity and inclusion.
This lofty designation includes a No. 2 ranking on its lists of top companies for both people with disabilities and for the influence and accessibility of diversity councils, as well as the No. 1 ranking among top companies for veterans. And as recently as 2016, Diversity Business Magazine ranked Northrop Grumman No. 3 on its annual list of America’s Top Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities.
While spearheading innovative and effective diversity initiatives inside the workplace, Evers-Manly also helped turn Northrop Grumman into a powerhouse of community outreach. In 2008, she established the Northrop Grumman Foundation to work directly with K-20 institutions and nonprofit organizations that deliver diverse and national-level STEM programming for students and teachers.
Over the years, the foundation has expanded its mission and now gives generously to disaster relief efforts and active military and veteran support groups as well. Through a combination of matching gifts and grants, the foundation’s total giving surpassed $15.5 million in 2017 alone. Evers-Manly remains the foundation’s president to this day.
Evers-Manly is recognized throughout the company by all employees as a voice of responsibility, ethics and diversity.
“She is our role model for helping to make this company a great place to work and simultaneously striving to be better than we are,” said a senior director at Northrop Grumman Technical. “She is the #1 champion for Employee Resource Groups and believes that it is the diversity of our people that makes the difference in our ability to be innovative and to meet the critical needs of our customers.”
Evers-Manly currently serves on the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct, as well as a fellow at the groups Ethics Resource Center. In 2011, she received a prestigious Deborah Award from the Anti-Defamation League, which recognizes women for outstanding leadership in their professional and civic endeavors.
In addition to her dedication to diversity and inclusion in the corporate arena, Evers-Manly has been a game-changer in Hollywood as well.
“I would always ask my mother, ‘Why don’t you see us on TV?’” she recalls. “My mother finally said, ‘Change it.’” And so she did.
In 1996, she founded the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center to “remove the veil of invisibility that shrouds African Americans and other minority groups from the main stage, and to spotlight diversity and the stellar contributions of black film and television artist,” as its mission statement expresses.
Programs include several film festivals to help promote, develop and showcase emerging African American filmmakers, including Sistas are Doin’ It For Themselves, now in its 27th year, showcasing Black female directors; the African American Film Marketplace and S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase, now in its 26th year; Reel Black Men, showcasing emerging Black male directors now in its 25th year; Doin It the independent Way, monthly film showcase; The Faith-Based and Inspirational Film Festival featuring faith and inspirational films and the Diversity Youth Film Festival, dedicated to showcasing the film work of middle and high school students along with Artistry in Motion, which introduces the field of animation to youth.
Evers-Manly has executive produced five short films on the impact of gang violence through an initiative called “Fight Back With Films” to help bring awareness to the impact of gang violence.
In addition, she was the executive producer of the Academy Award-nominated short film, “Last Breeze of Summer.” In 1998, she established “The First Weekend Club,” a film club formed to support films that feature African Americans both in front of and behind the scenes.
Evers-Manly was president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP for 12 years, including overseeing the NAACP Image Awards, NAACP Theater Awards and reports on diversity in the film and TV industry. She has provided testimony on Black images and employment of African Americans in the film and TV industry to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the Congressional Black Caucus and the California Assembly.
In February 2020, Evers-Manly launched BHERC-TV, a leading worldwide provider of narrative and documentary short and feature films about the African American experience, as well as content from across the diaspora and diverse populations, offering an affordable streaming entertainment service with paid memberships in over seven countries. On June 30, she was elected to the 2020 class of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.