Harold Doley, (part 2) Conversations about African American Leadership in New Orleans

Part II of a two-part interview with Ambassador Harold E. Doley, Jr. Ambassador Doley is the founder of Doley Securities, LLC, the oldest African American-owned investment banking firm in the nation. Doley is the only African American to have owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Doley was one of two boys born to Harold, Sr., a grocer, and Kathryn Doley. The Doley family, residents of Louisiana since 1720, had been free people before the Civil War. Doley attended segregated schools in the Louisiana area before attending Xavier University in New Orleans where he majored in Accounting and Business Administration and started an investment club. He received his MA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business. Doley began his career as a stock trader in 1968, working for Bache & Company Inc., a brokerage house in New Orleans. In 1973, he borrowed $90,000 and bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Doley's move brought him national attention and with it an ever-growing client portfolio. In 1975, Doley founded his own firm, Doley Securities, LLC. Undaunted by those critics who said white people wouldn’t give money to an investment company founded by an African American, Doley proved them wrong by consistently making his clients wealthy. Doley also managed the merger of several National Insurance Association companies and helped found the Republic National Bank and later became the largest stockholder of the United Bank before its merger. An active Republican, in 1981 he was named the founding director of the Minerals Management Service of the United States Department of Interior by the Reagan Administration. Under Doley, Minerals Management became the second largest income source to the United States Government. Two years later, President Reagan appointed Doley U.S. Ambassador to the Ivory Coast. He was also named Executive Director of the African Development Bank a multi-lateral development institution, a sister institution of the World Bank. Serving as Executive Director, Doley developed the structure that increased the AFDB’s capital by more than 300%. In 1985, upon his return to the United States, Doley continued his African development work by founding the U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce to increase trade between African nations and the United States. In the early 1990s, Doley and his wife, Helena, purchased the Madam CJ Walker Estate, Villa Lewaro. The Villa is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.