James H. Lowry ’61, Doctor of Laws

James H. Lowry ’61 received an honorary Doctor of Laws at Grinnell College Commencement 2008.

Bringing African Americans into the U.S. economic mainstream requires persistence, dedication, and a realization that racism still leaves its ugly traces today. It is not enough to simply denounce racism. We must also find concrete ways to bring about meaningful change.

Through his work as a management consultant and mentor, Lowry has opened doors and removed glass ceilings for African Americans in the business world.

He learned the importance of self-reliance, hard work, and education from his parents, lifelong postal workers in Chicago. After graduation from Grinnell, he were one of the first Grinnellians to join the Peace Corps. Recruited by Robert F. Kennedy, he returned to the United States as assistant to the president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. He also earned a master's degree in public international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and was president of his class at Harvard Business School.

In 1968, he became the first African American at the pre-eminent management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he eventually became a senior associate. In 1975, he formed James H. Lowry & Associates. In 1978, his firm prepared the first major study on minority business enterprise development for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

His client list includes corporate icons such as American Express, Caterpillar, and Ford Motor Company. his work with Ford led the company to source $3 billion of goods and services to more than 300 minority suppliers. In 1981, he helped his former employer, McKinsey, significantly increase the number of minority professionals on its staff.

Since becoming president of the Boston Consulting Groups' Chicago office in 2000, his involvement with the North American Black Diversity Initiative has helped foster the development of African American management consultant professionals on college campuses, as well as within the company. He is chair of the advisory board of the Howard University Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he developed an education program for minority business professionals in 2002.

He is one of the longest-serving members of Grinnell's Board of Trustees. As the winner of nine varsity letters in football, basketball, and baseball at Grinnell, he was inducted into the College's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

Visionary, entrepreneur, mentor, and advocate — James Lowry is a model Grinnellian and world citizen. We are proud to claim him as one of our own.