Tennessee American Water president Valoria (CQ) Armstrong speaks to guests during a tour of their new $18 million dewatering facility on Monday, Apr. 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. During one of the worst droughts in Chattanooga in decades, Valoria Armstrong helped keep the water flowing this year for more than 300,000 persons served by the Tennessee American Water Co.
Armstrong, who took over as head of Tennessee’s biggest privately owned water utility a year ago, is used to taking on big challenges.
At age 26, she was elected in 2005 as the youngest and first female president in more than 50 years of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). At the time, she was a manager at Food Lion where she applied three times for a top role in human resources at the company.
After being overlooked the third time, she determined to leave the grocer and she joined Tennessee American Water in 2011. After a brief stint as a human resources manager for the utility’s parent company, American Water Co., in St. Louis, she was chosen in late 2015 to become president of Tennessee American Water. She is the first African-American woman to hold the top job at Tennessee American and is one of the highest ranking black business leaders in Chattanooga.
She hopes she is not the last. Armstrong says businesses need to do more to recognize the diverse talent within their ranks.