David G. Turner moved to San Diego three years ago to work for Gateway — and for the weather, he jokes. He left a job after 14 years with AT&T in New Jersey, where the weather this winter has been especially harsh.

He joined Gateway in 2000, as vice president of marketing. Just this month, he has taken on the title and responsibilities of executive vice president of business, which means he oversees all business sales, as well as products and services for businesses.

A native of Annapolis, Md., Turner was raised in a family with two sisters and a brother, and two parents who were in the military. “We moved all over the place,” he says. When it came time for college, Turner made a major decision based in large part on his skin color.

“There are 118 historically black colleges in the country,” he says, “and Delaware (State) is one of them.” He chose Delaware State University for its “nurturing environment,” he says, where he lived in the Medgar Evers Dorm, called the penthouse by its residents. When he chose graduate schools, he says, it was based not on color, but on academic excellence.

After earning a master’s degree at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he secured an MBA from the Amos Tuck Executive MBA Program at Dartmouth College.

Turner was named one of the “50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America” by Fortune Magazine in 2002. In 2000, he was awarded the Institute for Student Achievement’s Community Service Award. He serves on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Although Turner says he has not used color as a barrier or an excuse, “in America, color is always a factor. It forced a level of excellence that had to be proved at every level. It made me work harder.”

When Turner has free time, he likes to play golf and do home improvements. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Kimberleigh, their daughter and the family dog, Jamaica.

— Sandy Pasqua