Ursula Burns
September 20, 1958
The first black woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company
She is an American businesswoman who served as the CEO of Xerox Corporation from 2009 to 2016. She was born on September 20, 1958, in New York City. Burns is widely recognized as a trailblazer in the business world, particularly as an African-American woman in a leadership position. Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a summer intern and steadily climbed the corporate ladder over the years. She held various positions within the company, including roles in product development and planning. In 2000, Burns became the senior vice president of corporate strategic services, overseeing manufacturing and supply chain operations. During her tenure as CEO, Burns played a crucial role in leading Xerox through a period of significant change. She spearheaded a strategic transformation initiative, guiding the company’s shift from a traditional document and printing focus to a more diversified portfolio of business services and technologies. Under her leadership, Xerox acquired Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in 2010, which expanded the company’s capabilities in business process outsourcing.Throughout her career, Ursula Burns has been recognized for her achievements and leadership. She has been listed among Forbes’ “100 Most Powerful Women” and Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” She has also served on the boards of several prominent organizations, including Exxon Mobil, American Express, and Nestlé. Beyond her corporate endeavors, Burns has been actively involved in various educational and nonprofit initiatives. She served as the chair of the President’s Export Council under the Obama administration and was a founding board director of Change the Equation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving STEM education in the United States.
Biography
Ursula was born on September 20, 1958, She was raised by a Panamanian immigrant mother of three on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in public housing. on the lower east side of New York City. Olga Burns, a single mother, operated a home daycare center and took other side jobs in order for Ursula to attend Cathedral High School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school.
In 1980, Ursula Burns graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn, earning her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. That year, she began pursuing a master’s degree in the same field from Columbia University and that summer, joined Xerox’s graduate engineering internship program for minorities which helped cover the cost of the graduate program. She was hired by Xerox full-time after graduation.
Burns quickly gained a reputation for speaking her mind and on one occasion, she questioned Wayland Hicks, an Executive Vice President, during a meeting regarding diversity. After a few follow-up discussions, she was asked to be his executive assistant. Burns progressed through various management and engineering roles and achieved the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Services in 2000. She was provided with the opportunity to broaden her leadership in global research, product development, marketing, and delivery.
Ursula Burns was named President of Xerox in 2007 and two years later she was appointed CEO. In 2010, she was promoted to Chairman. This was the first time an African American woman headed a Fortune 500 Company.
In 2009, President Obama appointed Burns to lead the White House national program on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) where she served until 2016. Burns was also the Chair of the President’s Export Council from 2015 to 2016 after previously serving as Vice Chair for five years.
Barack Obama, Jim McNerney, Ursula Burns,Burns stepped down as CEO of Xerox in 2016, and as chairman of the board in 2017. The same year, she became Chairman and CEO of VEON, an Amsterdam-based telecommunications provider. She resigned from both posts in 2020.
Burns is a current member of the Board of Directors of Teneo, Exxon Mobil, Uber Technologies, Inc., and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. She is on several private company boards and provides leadership council to community, educational, non-profit organizations.
Exxon Mobil Corporation announced that on February 21, 2023, Ursula M. Burns announced her intention not to stand for re-election to the board at the annual meeting of shareholders on May 31, 2023, for reasons unrelated to the company. Ms. Burns will remain on the board and continue to serve until the annual meeting.
She published her memoir entitled Where You Are Is Not Who You Are in 20