Primary Job Title President and CEO Primary Organization 
Barbara Franklin Enterprises
Location Washington, District of Columbia, United States Regions Washington DC Metro Area, Southern US Gender Female
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Barbara Hackman Franklin is President and Chief Executive Officer of Barbara Franklin Enterprises (private international consulting firm). From 1992 to 1993, she served as the 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
Prior to that appointment, Barbara Franklin was President and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Associates (management consulting
firm), which she founded in 1984.
She has received the John J. McCloy Award for contributions to audit excellence, the Director of the Year Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors ("NACD"), an Outstanding Director Award from the Outstanding Director Exchange, and was named by Directorship as one of the 100 most influential people in governance. In 2014, she was inducted into the NACD Directorship 100 Hall of Fame.
Barbara Franklin was Senior Fellow of The Wharton School of Business from 1979 to 1988, an original Commissioner and Vice Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from 1973 to 1979, and a Staff Assistant to the President of the United States from 1971 to 1973. Earlier, she was an executive at Citibank and the Singer Company. Barbara Franklin serves on the international advisory board of LaFarge, Paris, France (building materials).
She is former Chairman of the NACD, Chairman Emerita of the Economic Club of New York, a director of the US-China Business Council, the National Committee on US-China Relations, the Committee for Economic Development and the Atlantic Council.
Barbara Franklin is a director of three funds in the American Funds family of mutual funds. She also served as a director of The Dow Chemical Company (chemicals, plastics and agricultural products) from 1980 to 1992 and from April 1993 to May 2012 and of the JP Morgan Value Opportunities Fund from 2007 to 2014.
