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Senior VP, Pepco Holdings

As the question hung in the air between us, Beverly Perry allowed the interviewer's inquiry regarding her success to marinate in her soul for a brief spell. Afterward, her answer poured out of her heart in a streaming river of gratitude. "Most African Americans are grounded in their spirituality. And basically, your leadership skills are developed through the church," says Perry, the senior vice president for government affairs and public policy for Pepco Holdings. Perry, who heads Pepco's lobbying team and handles policy issues related to the company, never hesitates to give credit for her phenomenal success.

"Secondly, I met people that were willing to mentor me, and I've had great mentors. I had a mentor early on who encouraged me to go to school. And I've had a mentor in my legal career who is a judge. And so my mentors have really pushed me along," she says. But it was her inner flame that gave her lift-off to the upper echelon of a company that oversees three electric companies, serving everywhere from Washington, D.C., to Atlantic City, N.J. As the Georgetown University Law School graduate continues to help shape issues and policies for the company's fiscal and market benefit, she is always trying to escort protégés through the corridors of corporate power - blessing others the way she was blessed.

"We are a 15-billion-dollar company, and I'm fifth in line," she says. "I want to make sure that I mentor young people, especially African Americans, to help them channel their energies in the right direction to help them move up the ranks." -terry shropshire

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