A.B. Cruz III

A.B. Cruz III

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

The E.W. Scripps Company

Early in his law career, A.B. Cruz III was singularly focused on getting ahead, always on the lookout for opportunities to advance. But as the years passed and Cruz secured a foothold in the legal profession, he learned to take time to offer guidance to younger attorneys and share his thoughts on important issues, including diversity.

As senior vice president and general counsel at The E.W. Scripps Company, Cruz counts diversity as one of the components that he proudly brings to the table: It is a part of who he is and what he values. Until his tenure as a visible leader and general counsel comes to a close, Cruz is determined to advance the ideal as best he can.

“By placing expectations on Scripps’ outside counsel, and putting structures within those firms to not only bring in women and minorities but also make sure that they’re nurtured for success, I make a difference,” says Cruz. “We require our outside counsel to complete an annual survey in order for us to track their progress on the diversity front. If they don’t make the grade, we can either reduce their work or fire them.”

In March 2004, when Cruz was hired as the first general counsel in Scripp’s 128-year history, the billion-dollar media company was uncertain how to use him: Systems were not constructed to include a general counsel’s office and departments did not understand the importance of having a legal veteran on the premises. Undaunted, Cruz was committed to educating himself and his colleagues and to establishing a baseline policy that included strengthening the company’s commitment to diversity as a core value.

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, Cruz—whose father’s family traces its roots to Spain and his mother’s to the Philippines—learned the value of education from his close-knit family: “Completing at least college was nonnegotiable. Education came just behind God and family,” says Cruz.

Not long after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. in 1980 with a bachelor of science in engineering, Cruz earned a masters of business administration from the University of Maryland. In 1992, he graduated from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC.

While still in law school, Cruz met his foremost professional mentor—Henry Rivera, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission who is now a partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding. Aware of Cruz’ background in engineering, Rivera encouraged him to pursue a career related to the burgeoning telecommunications field.

Prior to being brought on board at Scripps’ Cincinnati corporate headquarters, Cruz was vice president and deputy general counsel at BET Holdings, Inc. He played a major part in that company’s $3 billion merger with Viacom in 2001. Before BET, Cruz was with the Washington, DC law firm Wiley, Rein & Fielding, where his practice focused on aspects of telecommunications.

“Along the way, someone has always stepped in to help me with my career,” says Cruz, for whom mentoring is one of many paths to success.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t talk to an aspiring Navy Midshipman or young lawyer or law student seeking advice,” says Cruz. “It’s a practitioner’s responsibility to help out the next generation of legal leaders. I won’t be general counsel forever, so while I’m here at a Fortune 600 company, I need to feel that I’m helping feed that ever-important pipeline.”


Return to Fortune 500 Minority General Counsel

From the September/October 2006 issue of  Diversity & The Bar®

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