225 Years of Tar Heels: Ruby Butler DeMesme
In 1998, Carolina graduate Ruby Butler DeMesme became the first African-American women to serve as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower, reserve affairs, installations and environment.
Editor’s note: In honor of the University’s 225th anniversary, we will be sharing profiles throughout the academic year of some of the many Tar Heels who have left their heelprint on the campus, their communities, the state, the nation and the world.
Ruby Butler DeMesme was a people person from the start. Growing up in Clinton, North Carolina, she was surrounded by family that prioritized public service. DeMesme looked up to and modeled herself after her aunt, a school teacher, and decided she also wanted to make a difference in the lives of those around her.
DeMesme graduated magna cum laude from St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1969, followed by a master’s degree in social work from UNC-Chapel Hill. She continued the family tradition of public service, working 11 years in the Cumberland County Department of Social Services in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where her natural ability to connect with others was manifest in her work helping families.
She began working in personnel-related positions with the U.S. Army in 1980 and in 1989 took a year to serve as a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for Sen. John Glenn of Ohio. She moved to the U.S. Air Force, her exceptional people skills eventually leading to the position of deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for force management and personnel in 1994.
DeMesme told the Wall Street Journal in 2008 how an Army general encouraged her to lead with humanity.
“He gave me the opportunity to work with people as individuals. He realized that you build programs and compensation around people,” she said.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed her assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower, reserve affairs, installations and environment. The first African-American women to serve in that role, she was the top personnel officer responsible for the management of all policies and programs on recruiting, training, housing, health affairs, equal opportunity for employees and more. She stayed in the role until 2001, calling it “complex and demanding” as well as “humbling and gratifying.”
After 30 years, DeMesme retired from public service to work as a consultant in the corporate world, and she remains an important voice for how managers and employees can work together in an ever-changing career landscape.
