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55Before
Beth I. Chandler Warren journeyed to Andover in 1953 to become Abbot
Academy’s first black student, Principal Marguerite C. Hearsey
sent a letter to trustees and parents telling them of the impending
enrollment of this Morehouse College professor’s daughter.
Three families chose to withdraw their daughters rather than have
them attend an integrated school. Young Beth’s response: “I’m
going to Abbot to learn. Other people can learn from me.”
She went on at Abbot to become president of the Abbot Christian
Association, a member of the Fidelio Society, a varsity softball
player and an active leader in the school community. And, throughout
her life, people have continued to learn from her.
“Know your own values, then size up new opportunities”
is advice Warren gives to both new graduates and midlife career-changers.
Her own life has been built on sizing up new opportunities, then
opening doors for others. Currently recognized as a leader in the
human resources field, she has received more than 75 distinguished
awards.
Warren’s lifelong love of learning began at her father’s
dinner table as he quizzed his young daughter with questions from
the Graduate Record Examinations. This quest for learning was nurtured
at Abbot and has continued throughout her career in both human services
and human resources. After earning a B.A. degree in psychology from
Wheaton College and an M.S.W. degree from Simmons College School
of Social Work, Warren began her career as a clinical social worker.
She also continued to open racial doors when she and husband-to-be
Theodore J. Warren Jr. decided to be married in the Cathedral of
St. Philip in Atlanta in 1964. Because they would become the first
black couple married there, Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, an avowed
segregationist, condemned the forthcoming nuptials in the Atlanta
Constitution. In response, the young bride told her bishop, “We
do not want to have our wedding here as a civil rights issue; we’re
here for spiritual reasons,” and the wedding took place as
planned.
Moving to Massachusetts, where her husband joined the history department
at Abbot and later the religion department at PA, Beth became the
first person of color to be associate director of Boston Children’s
Services. She later became executive director of Roxbury Children’s
Service, where she insisted on hiring a racially-integrated staff.
In the mid-’70s, Warren spent a year as assistant commissioner
for social services for the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare.
She also was a PA faculty wife. She admits she didn’t have
time to bake brownies, but her kitchen in Paul Revere was always
stocked with a big jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread for
hungry students. In addition, she served as a consultant to the
psychology department, providing individual counseling to students.
Moving with her husband and daughter, Beth Angela, to Portland,
Maine, in 1978, Warren became the first black person to hold an
executive position at the University of Southern Maine, where she
was appointed director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity,
then executive director for human resources. In 1992, the family
moved to Ithaca, N.Y., when she was named associate vice president
for human resources at Cornell University. She was also a visiting
fellow at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
In 1996, seeking new challenges, a warmer climate and proximity
to a major airport, Warren became founder, president and CEO of
WorkWorlds’ Human Resource Corporation, an Atlanta-based management
consulting firm that helps national and international clients improve
their human resource practices. The firm also has established a
learning institute that delivers online seminars. Co-author of two
books on disability management, she is listed in the International
Who’s Who of Entrepreneurs, Who’s Who Among African Americans
and Who’s Who in Executives and Business.
Warren is a pioneer in distance learning on the Internet, reveling
in new technologies to teach human resource management practices.
“If you can do it on the Web, learning becomes global in its
reach,” she says. She predicts that, by next year, 90 percent
of learning in corporations will be distance learning.
“You cannot learn without changing, and you cannot change without
learning,” she says. Before “thinking outside the box”
became a common phrase, Warren was living that maxim. “My mind
goes in distant places. I have the capability of envisioning and
vision,” she concludes.
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