The Higher Education of the Most Powerful Black Woman in Publishing

Thomson Corp. is one of the most powerful and influential media companies in the world. It regularly provides information products and services to more than 20 million professionals worldwide. The company, with 40,000 employees in 45 countries, has annual revenues of nearly $9 billion.

The general counsel of this media giant is a black woman. Since coming to Thomson in 2002, Deirdre Stanley has presided over a legal department of 48 attorneys. Her team of nine mergers and acquisitions lawyers has completed 119 acquisitions totaling $1.8 billion. \

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Stanley is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School. She also spent a year at the London School of Economics. Before coming to Thomson, Stanley was a corporate attorney for the prestigious firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She later headed the mergers and acquisitions department at GTE and was deputy general counsel for the USA cable television network.