Region mourns loss of business pioneer

CEO Cheryl Snead dies at age 59

NORTH SMITHFIELD – Rhode Island lost a recognized and honored business leader with the passing of Banneker Industries CEO and President Cheryl W. Snead, 59, on Monday after complications from a prior surgery.

Snead, an engineer who had worked for General Electric early in her career, founded Banneker Industries Inc. as a world class provider of supply chain solutions to the aerospace and defense industries and other corporate customers in 1991. Its third and fourth-party logistics service operations are headquartered

today at 582 Great Road with additional outlets in Massachusetts, Alabama, California, Texas and Virginia.

She was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.

While active as a leading Rhode Island entrepreneur, Snead also worked strongly on the behalf of other women and minorities in business and was a regular keynote speaker at forums and conferences on women and minority leadership gains both in Rhode Island and on the national level.

“It is just a terrible loss, for the business community, her family and her business,” Town Administrator Gary S. Ezovski said of Snead on Wednesday.

“She was just a very graceful, calm and intelligent leader,” he said. “She was an unshakable and wonderful person who just warmed to everybody she met,” Ezovski said. “It is just stunning to know that she is gone,” he added.

Snead founded her company initially on Route 116 in Lincoln and later moved into its North Smithfield location, the former CD Burns property, as it continued to grow, according to Ezovski.

Banneker, named for African American Mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker of the late 1700s and early 1800s, offers supply chain management to companies producing products. Ezovski said Banneker supports it customer businesses with their supply of materials and product deliveries. The company has about 40 employees working at its North Smithfield headquarters and another 50 in its other nearby locations, according to Ezovski.

Visible and well-known as the company’s president and CEO through her many activities, Snead was more than a role model for women in business and minorities, Ezovski said. “She was a role model for anyone in business,” he said. “I wish I could be as smooth and confident in business as she was. Cheryl was unique,” he said.

John C. Gregory, president and CEO of the Northern R.I. Chamber of Commerce, also praised Snead’s commitment to helping other women succeed in business while voicing his feelings of loss for a good friend on Wednesday.

“She was on the Board of Directors of the Chamber when I came on aboard in 1992,” Gregory said.

“Cheryl was just one of those rare individuals who was always giving back as much as she was getting,” he said.

“Her passing is certainly a loss for Northern Rhode Island but also for the state,” he said.

Snead and her husband, Roland, had a residence in the West Bay area, according to Gregory.

Snead was active with the Chamber over the years and had even made a point of showing Gregory a reference to the organization in a book prepared for its 20th Anniversary gather in 2011.

“She said they were able to find the space in North Smithfield as a result of attending a chamber event and talking to someone who knew about it. That is how they ended up in North Smithfield,” Gregory said.

As part of her efforts to give back, Gregory said Snead held a special passion for mentoring other women in the corporate world and guiding other minority business owners and officers through some of the things she had experienced, he said.

“She appreciated that there sometimes challenges for women and minorities in business and helped where she could,” he said.

Snead was a member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the top certifier of women-owned businesses in the country and also worked at Bryant College to create a program supporting aspiring minorities students heading into business.

Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley was among those issuing statements on Snead’s passing saying that “on a personal level, Cheryl Watkins Snead was a delightful individual and an inspiration to us all.”

Banneker was reported to have informed employees of Snead’s death during a meeting at the company on Tuesday.

The company’s chief financial officer, Junior Jabbie, the executive manager of corporate operations, was reported to have been named to serve as acting president.

The company’s leadership also issued a statement saying “Banneker has lost a visionary and inspirational genius and the world has lost an amazing human being. All of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Cheryl have lost a dear friend, a trusted confidant and an inspiring mentor.”