Black Family Business Succession

Karla Trotman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Electro Soft, Incorporated (ESI), an electronics manufacturing and engineering firm in the United States. She holds a B.S. in Business Logistics from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Drexel University. The breadth of her experience in business extends to supply chain logistics, purchasing, global scheduling, and ecommerce where she served in key roles in companies to include Honeywell, Gap, and IKEA.  

Defying expectations is a common thread in the life of Karla. While at IKEA, Karla became the mother of two sons. With two challenging pregnancies, Karla recognized the difficulties prenatal and postnatal mothers experience.  Her tenacity for learning, assessing, and fulfilling the needs of local and international communities is evidenced through her establishing Belly Button Boutique while on maternity leave.  Karla utilized the power of the Internet in combination with her logistics background to start a successful online business selling products for prenatal and postnatal women. Over the span of 8 years, her business expanded to celebrity and international clientele. She was featured on NBC 10 News, People Magazine’s Celebrity Baby Blog, CBSNews.com, Huffington Post Live, several radio shows, books, and countless blogs. 

The success of Belly Button Boutique was an indicator to Karla of her ability to expand her horizons and affect change across multiple industries. She saw her success in navigating both the online space of business and logistics as an opportunity to propel Electro Soft, Incorporated (ESI) forward. ESI, an electronics contract manufacturing firm, was established by Karla’s parents Jim and Sheila Wallace in 1986.  Karla exited corporate America with her sights focused on ESI. Over the past fifteen years she served in the roles at ESI as Special Projects and Marketing Manager, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and currently as the Chief Executive Officer. Under her guidance, ESI was able to gain a competitive advantage by implementing both an online marketing and acquisition strategy, ultimately increasing what was once a flat revenue streak. 

Going against the grain, harnessing the power within, and bucking tradition is a common theme in Karla’s life. Her desire to create a family legacy is evident in her acquisition of ESI. Through her leadership at ESI, Karla was named an Enterprising Woman of the Year, Transformational Woman in Family Business, Top 25 Leader Transforming Manufacturing, and most recently Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Greater Philadelphia Award winner. As an influential voice in manufacturing, Karla cuts through the narrative of what is expected of a leader in her industry and sets a precedent for future leaders.  

Karla recognizes and understands the plight of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and how their power can be used to help close the ever widening minority wealth gap. Leveraging her connections to funding, access, and networks, she assists in bridging success gaps for her fellow minority business owners. As a connector, educator, and advocate for MBEs, she passionately expresses to all who will listen how an investment of minority dollars in minority businesses helps minority families and minority communities.   In her upcoming book, “Dark Dirty Dangerous – Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing,” she tells the difficult truths of building a manufacturing company while facing issues beyond her control. 

Within her own community, Karla dedicates time serving her community as a board member for the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, Museum of the American Revolution, African Women’s Entrepreneurship Collective, and Forum of Executive Women Foundation. She is Co-Chair of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Manufacturing Alliance (SEPMA) and a Member of both the Drexel University Board of Governors and Drexel’s President’s Council.   

Her most important role in this life is that of wife to husband Thane and mother to her two teenage sons Dylan and Bryce.

Jessica Johnson-Cope is President and principal of Johnson Security Bureau, Inc., a third generation family-owned security services firm based in the Bronx, New York.  She is responsible for the firm’s overall business operations.  Jessica assumed leadership of Johnson Security in 2008 when her late father became ill.  Prior to joining her family’s business on a full-time basis, she was a sales representative for several global corporations. 

Jessica proudly serves as a small business advocate, promoting issues that are critical to minority and women entrepreneurs. She is the Chair of the National Leadership Council for 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, a platform to help emerging entrepreneurs use their collective voices to impact government policies affecting small businesses.  She is also an advisor to the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women initiative.  Jessica has leveraged the following corporate business development programs: ASCEND; the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network; and, the Salesforce Black-Owned Mentor Program; to position Johnson Security for contracting opportunities with global brands. 

Jessica is committed to building her community through service to several organizations, among them: the New York State Workforce Investment Board, the New York State Security Guard Advisory Council, and the Business Initiative Corporation of New York.  She also serves as a proud and active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  Through her participation on the NY & NJ Minority Supplier Development Council’s Board of Directors, and the MBE Input Committee, Jessica is able to make an impact on her local MBE ecosystem. 

Jessica earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University and a Master’s degree in Market Research from the University of Georgia. She is also a graduate the inaugural class of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative.  

Jessica resides in Brooklyn, NY where she and her husband Waleed have leveraged experiences from their families’ respective businesses to start The Soap Box, a premium laundry, garment care and sneaker cleaning business.  Jessica strives for excellence in all that she does.  Her fervent goal is to impact her community, and to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Brigitte Daniel Corbin

As an award winning ‘telecom visionary’ and vocal advocate for gender and cultural diversity in the tech industry, Brigitte Daniel Corbin is the Chief Executive Officer of Wilco Electronic Systems, a private telecom operator that has specialized in providing affordable technologies to underserved communities as well as multifamily residential and commercial real estate properties. Under her ownership, Wilco is certified as both an MBE (Minority Owned Business) and a WBE (Women Owned Business).  

Over the last 15 years, Brigitte has created several substantial private/public partnerships providing innovative solutions to address digital disparities and lack of representation within technology sectors across the Nation, thus positioning Wilco, as a broadband and technology leader. Under Ms. Daniel’s leadership, she also spearheaded the historic acquisition of Wilco’s cable division to Comcast in 2018 which allowed for the influx of new technologies to enter public housing communities throughout Philadelphia.  

As 2nd generation leadership, Mrs. Daniel-Corbin has continued the family legacy by successfully pivoting Wilco’s focus towards the integration of security surveillance, cloud based access control platforms, property tech, and IoT( Internet of Things) as well as the design of low voltage wiring systems. With the understanding that the need for a more tech-reliant workforce will be key, under Brigitte’s leadership, Wilco additionally incorporates community engaged workforce development models that provides smart tech workforce opportunities to augment housing markets. This new focus has positioned Wilco as a modern and unique integrator sitting at the epicenter between the convergence of real estate, technology, and impact.  

Driven by her mission to address digital disparities and tech diversity and inclusion inequities, Brigitte has become a national thought leader targeting inclusion inequities within innovation ecosystems across the Nation. To align with those goals, she is the Founder of Mogulette, an organization committed to diversifying and expanding the reach of opportunities for women, with a focus on women of color, within technology sectors; Most recently she was a 2023 appointed member the new City of Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s transition team leading the technology subcommittee, She was a 2019 appointed member of the SMART City PHL Advisory Committee, and a 2019 appointed board member of Philadelphia Works, Inc., the City of Philadelphia’s workforce development board. In all of these capacities, she recommends policies on smart city solutions and new workforce strategies that are inclusive and complement Philadelphia’s unique value assets.