Hilda Pinnix-Ragland
Hilda Pinnix-Ragland | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Need valid birth date: year, month, day Hillsborough, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Corporate leader, philanthropist |
| Known for | First African-American woman Vice President at Duke Energy; board chair of North Carolina A&T State University |
Hilda Pinnix-Ragland (born May 1955) is an American corporate leader and philanthropist. She made history as the first African-American woman to serve as Vice President of Corporate Public Affairs at Duke Energy. Prior to that, at Progress Energy Inc, she held several vice presidential roles, including Vice President of Energy Delivery Services, Vice President of the North Region, and Vice President of Economic Development, becoming the company's inaugural African-American woman vice president. Currently, Pinnix-Ragland chairs the Audit & Risk Committee on RTI International’s board, joined 8 Rivers Capital’s board in 2016, and was appointed to Southwest Water Company’s board in 2020, frequently as their first African-American woman director. Additionally, she leads the board of trustees at North Carolina A&T State University. In 2017, she co-authored The Energy Within Us: An Illuminating Perspective from Five Trailblazers.
Early life and education
Raised on her family’s Angus farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina, Pinnix-Ragland descends from five generations of African-American landowners. During the 1965 school integration at Aycock Elementary School, she was accompanied by the United States Marshals Service. As a youth, she engaged in track and field while attending Orange High School, participated in Girl Scouts and 4-H programs, earned one of Orange County’s first female school bus driver licenses, and worked at her uncle's gas station. She completed high school in 1973.
Pinnix-Ragland graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in 1977 with a degree in accounting and was an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She later attained an MBA focusing on finance from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1986. Her executive leadership education includes training at Harvard Kennedy School, and she pursued graduate coursework in taxation at St. John's University.
Career
Beginning her career after college, Pinnix-Ragland worked as an auditor for Colgate-Palmolive and then as a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen in New York City. In 1980, she returned to North Carolina to join Carolina Power & Light (which became Progress Energy) as a systems auditor—the sole woman and person of color on her team. Transitioning from auditing to treasury functions, she advanced to vice presidential positions overseeing economic development, energy delivery services, and the northern region—becoming the company's first African-American woman VP. After Progress Energy merged with Duke Energy in 2012, she was appointed Vice President of Corporate Public Affairs, where she worked closely with government entities to influence policies benefiting consumers and businesses. Pinnix-Ragland retired from Duke Energy in June 2016; she was also the first African-American woman elected to its board of directors and served as an officer there. Additionally, she held the role of Vice Chair for Progress Energy's Corporate Diversity Council.
In 2013, she joined the board of directors for the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. Presently, she serves on boards including Southwest Water Company as a director; RTI International as vice-chair; and acts as a consultant for TVA Power. Her leadership roles have extended to chairing the North Carolina Community College System board and the American Association of Blacks in Energy. She co-chaired Wake Invests in Women and holds membership with the National Association of Corporate Directors. Furthermore, Pinnix-Ragland co-chairs Wake Education Partnership and leads both the Nominating and Governance Committee and Audit Committee at 8 Rivers Financial Capital. She chairs North Carolina Dental Services’ board of directors and has co-led North Carolina’s gubernatorial transition team along with the Budget Reform and Accountability Commission. Former U.S. President Barack Obama nominated her to serve on the National Park Foundation board.
She is the founder of STEMulus Academy, a STEM-focused initiative for fifth-grade girls in Wake County. Moreover, Pinnix-Ragland established the Hilda Pinnix-Ragland Endowment via the North Carolina Community Foundation to fund scholarships for accounting students at North Carolina A&T State University.
Her accolades include receiving the James E. Stewart Award from the American Association of Blacks in Energy (2007), the North Carolina 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), recognition among Savoy Magazine's Top 100 Influential Women in Corporate America (2012), an Education Award for Leadership in Community Colleges presented by Joe Biden, Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and induction into North Carolina A&T State University Business School’s Lifetime Hall of Fame (2020).
In May 2019, she co-authored The Energy Within Us: An Illuminating Perspective from Five Trailblazers alongside Carolyn Green, Joyce Hayes Giles, Rose McKinney-James, and Telisa Toliver.
Personal life
Pinnix-Ragland is married to Alvin Glendale Ragland, who serves as the human resources director for Sony Ericsson located in Research Triangle Park. Together, they have one daughter and live in Cary, North Carolina. In 2013, the couple made history as the first African-American members admitted to the Carolina Country Club since its founding 103 years earlier.
She practices the Episcopal faith and volunteers as a Sunday school instructor at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh.