kenneth i chenault is a business executive who works in the financial services industry chenault is best known for the time he spent as chair and chief executive officer ceo of american express axp 
chenault started working with the company in 1981 where he moved up the ranks to lead the company becoming one of the first african americans to lead a major company mr chenault left the company after 37 years and joined venture capital firm general catalyst in 2018 1 he also sits on the board of a number of other companies including airbnb and berkshire hathaway 23investopedia alex dos diazearly life and educationkenneth i chenault was born in new york in 1951 and earned his undergraduate degree from bowdoin college and his jd from harvard law school 6he began his career as an associate with rogers wells then worked as a management consultant for bain company before joining american express as director of strategic planning in september 1981 7notable accomplishmentschenault worked with american express in a number of different areas since he joined the company in 1981 he became president of the consumer card group in 1989 then assumed the role of president of travel related services in 1993 7two years later he was named vice president chair of the company chenault served as the company s president and chief operating officer coo in 1997 before taking over as chair and ceo in 2001 he became one of the first african americans to head a fortune 500 company in the fall of 2017 chenault announced that he would be leaving american express in february 2018 8in 2008 with the global credit crisis american express was facing headwinds as the world was contracting the federal reserve system approved the company s application to become a bank holding company this allowed american express to receive emergency financing from the tarp program 9at the time of his departure as american express ceo chenault was only one of three african americans to serve as a ceo of a fortune 500 company 5 he is also the first african american to serve on the board at meta formerly facebook 10chenault often addresses the need for diversity in the corporate world citing upper management s lack of seeking out diverse candidates rather than there being a lack of talent in 2020 chenault co founded oneten a group of top executives looking to hire one million black americans by 2030 into living wage jobs 11upon his departure from american express mr chenault accepted the position of chair and managing partner of general catalyst a venture capital firm that makes growth and early stage investments in companies like warby parker stripe airbnb and snapchat chenault s decision to enter the silicon valley market was due to changes and maturation in the digital space 12chenault joined the boards of several companies including airbnb abnb and berkshire hathaway brk a brk b he also served as a board member at ibm and is a board member of the council on foreign relations 13 he lives in new rochelle new york with his wife and children 