Howard University Board Chairman Named to Head AARP

A. Barry Rand, the chairman of the board of trustees at Howard University, was named president of AARP. The organization used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons. But the group simply uses the acronym AARP as its official name because many of its 40 million members are not retired. Rand is the first African American to head the organization.

Rand is a native of Washington, D.C. When growing up he lived a 30-second walk away from a neighborhood school. But he could not attend that school because of the color of his skin. Rand went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at American University and an MBA and a master’s degree in management science from Stanford University.

Rand spent 31 years at Xerox Corporation rising to the position of executive vice president of worldwide operations. In 1999 he left Xerox to become CEO of Avis Group Holdings, the car rental company. He later served as CEO of Equitant, an Irish management services firm which was later acquired by IBM.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.