Winter 2006
AT&T's Cynthia Marshall champions MESA
If you were to ask AT&T Senior Vice President and MESA alum Cynthia Marshall to name her life's top memories, these three would make the list:
As one of the highest-ranking African-American women in the company, Marshall is responsible for regulatory and constituency relations for SBC California, which is now being integrated with the AT&T post-merger structure. In addition to her AT&T responsibilities, Marshall also finds time to serve as vice chair of the California Utilities Diversity Council (CUDC), a committee of the California Public Utilities Commission.
A low-income, inner-city youth who "traveled across the tracks to get to school every day," Marshall was a MESA student while attending John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond, where she graduated in 1977 and was accepted to the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. She continued to participate in MESA, but switched to the Haas School of Business, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration and a bachelor of arts degree in human resources management.
She attributes her success to the academics and leadership skills she acquired through MESA and her MESA teacher, the late Elois Irvin. "She recognized our potential and made a huge difference in our lives," said Marshall. "She got us totally focused on entering the technology field and getting into college—she showed us that we were smart and that we could do whatever we wanted with our lives."
Her MESA experience proved so powerful that earlier this year, when the CUDC discussed establishing a partnership with MESA, she jumped at the opportunity to support the idea. "They asked me if I had heard of the program; I said are you kidding, I was in MESA and it changed my life!
"I knew we had a strong record on diversity at SBC, but we decided we wanted to make a powerful statement collectively as a council," she added. "I said, when you consider the educational outcomes MESA has achieved through the years, no amount of money is too great to support the work they do." (The CUDC went on to award MESA $1.365 million on behalf of six member utility companies; see story, page 1).
Once, during Marshall's sophomore year of high school, her MESA teacher assigned her to deliver a presentation to the class about why she liked math and what her college plans were. "I was absolutely terrified because I had never done anything like that before," she said. "But by the time it was over, I had found my voice, and the rest is history."
When Marshall graduated from business school, she had 13 job offers from which to choose. She accepted a management position supervising 30 long distance operators for Pacific Telephone (as it was then known), where she has advanced through numerous restructurings and name-changes. One of her central goals in finishing college and getting a good job was to rescue her mother from the poverty in which her family had grown up. Achieving this, she said, was one of her proudest moments.
Today Marshall handles everything from working with state officials and helping shape public policy, to advancing the company's workplace diversity and corporate ethics initiatives. On the regulatory side, the AT&T acquisition has dominated much of her professional life for the past six months.
It will be hard for her to forget the day that SBC's $16 billion purchase of AT&T became official. After months of work to obtain regulatory approval from 29 states and 17 countries, Marshall waited as California regulators continued to debate the matter just hours before U.S. officials were scheduled to issue their final decision.
Marshall is involved in many social and community service efforts, including adoption, mentoring, leadership and team-building, but MESA will always remain near and dear to her heart.
"My junior year in high school was the year that changed my life," said Marshall. "MESA saw something in me, and I haven't slowed down since."
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