A 21st-CENTURY Leader

How Stacy Brown-Philpot became your board members' favorite board member.

- ISSIE LAPOWSKY

In the summer of 2020, as racial justice protests took over city streets in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, Erik and Pete Nordstrom made an urgent plea to a trusted confidant, Stacy Brown-Philpot.

Like a lot of leaders across the country, the Nordstroms were grappling with how to respond to the fear and anger being felt not just by their customers, but by their employees as well. For Nordstrom, a retailer with a diverse workforce and hundreds of stores that were on the frontline of the protests, navigating that moment of social upheaval was both particularly fraught and urgent. The Nordstrom brothers, who run the company founded in 1901 by their great-grandfather, wanted to create a space for their employees to deal with their outrage and engage in the difficult conversations about race that, for too long, had been avoided. They were hoping Brown-Philpot would help them do it.

At the time, Brown-Philpot wasn't exactly in the market for new responsibilities. She too was grappling with how to meet the moment as the then-CEO of the gig economy startup Taskrabbit. But as one of three Black women serving on Nordstrom's board in those days, she didn't hesitate to jump in, knowing how valuable her perspective would be. "People talk about, 'Oh, you don't want to be the Black person on the board. You don't want to be the woman who's speaking out," Brown-Philpot says. "Actually, no. This is the time. The CEO of the company needs you."

"Stacy's contributions on the board have been invaluable," says CEO Erik Nordstrom, adding that he is grateful for "her thoughtful perspective on complex challenges."