Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958), is an American businesswoman. She is the chairman and CEO of VEON,[2] a senior advisor to Teneo,[3][4] and a non-executive director of the beverage company Diageo since April 2018, among other directorships[5] such as Uber.[6][7] In 2009, Burns became CEO of Xerox, the first black woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company,[8] and the first woman to succeed another as head of a Fortune 500 company.[9][10] Burns served as Xerox CEO from 2009 to 2016 and Xerox chairwoman from 2010 to 2017.[11][12] In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world.[13] Among other civic positions, she was a leader of the STEM program of the White House from 2009 to 2016, and head of the President’s Export Council from 2015 until 2016.[14
Distinguished Speaker Series – Ursula Burns
Early life and education[edit]
Burns was raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a New York city housing project.[9] Both of her parents were Panamanian immigrants. She attended Cathedral High School, a Catholic all-girls school on East 56th Street in New York. She went on to obtain a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now New York University Tandon School of Engineering) in 1980 and a master of science in mechanical engineering from Columbia University a year later.[15][16][17] She has since received additional honorary degrees from New York University,[18] Williams College,[19] the University of Pennsylvania,[20] Howard University,[21] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,[22] The City College of New York,[23] Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT),[24] the University of Rochester,[25] Xavier University,[26] and Georgetown University.[27]
Business career[edit]
Xerox[edit]
Burns first worked for Xerox as a summer intern in 1980, and permanently joined a year later, after completing her master’s degree. She worked in various roles in product development and planning at the company for the remainder of the 1980s.[28] In January 1990, her career took an unexpected turn when Wayland Hicks, then a senior executive, offered Burns a job as his executive assistant. She accepted and worked for him for roughly nine months before returning home because she was about to be married.[29] In June 1991, she then became executive assistant to then chairman and chief executive Paul Allaire. In 1999, she was named vice president for global manufacturing.[28] In May 2000, Burns was named senior vice president of corporate strategic services and began working closely with soon-to-be CEO Anne Mulcahy, in what both women have described as a true partnership. Two years later, Burns became president of business group operations.[30]
In 2007, Burns assumed the role of president of Xerox.[30] In July 2009 she was named CEO, succeeding Mulcahy, who remained as chairman until May 2010.[28] The first black woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company,[9] Burns was also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company.[10] Shortly after being named CEO, Burns led the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services.[4] In 2016, she led Xerox in a split into two independent companies:[5] Xerox Corporation and Conduent Incorporated.[4] She remained chairwoman and CEO of Xerox through the process, and was then appointed chairwoman of the standalone document technology company.[31] After stepping down from the position in December 2016, Burns was succeeded by Jeff Jacobson. She retained the title of chairwoman of the newly formed document technology company[5] until May 2017, when she left the Xerox board and her role as chairperson.[32]
Public service roles[edit]
U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Burns to help lead the White House National STEM program in 2009,[33][34] and she remained a leader of the STEM program until 2016.[14] In March 2010 President Obama appointed Burns as vice chair of the President’s Export Council,[33][34] which she led from 2015 to 2016.[14]
Board roles[edit]
Burns has served on numerous boards, including those of Boston Scientific,[15] FIRST, the National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance, and the RUMP Group.[15] She remains a board director of the American Express Corporation,[33][35] Exxon Mobil Corporation,[36] Datto Inc.,[33][37] and Nestlé.[4] In July 2017, it was announced that she would join the board of the beverage company Diageo on April 2, 2018.[5] She joined Teneo as a senior advisor in June 2017.[4] Burns joined the board of Uber in late September 2017.[7]
Veon[edit]
In July 2017, Burns was elected chairman of VEON, the world’s 11th largest telecoms service provider by suscribers,[2] by its board of directors.[38] With the sudden departure of the CEO in March 2018, she was made executive chairman pending a selection process, and in December 2018, she was appointed as CEO.[39]
Community activities[edit]
Burns provides leadership counsel to community, educational and non-profit organizations including FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), National Academy Foundation, MIT, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, among others.[33][better source needed] She is a founding board director of Change the Equation, which focuses on improving the U.S.’s education system in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).[33][40] She served as vice chairwoman of the executive committee of The Business Council between 2013 and 2014.[41][42] She has delivered the commencement address at universities including MIT,[43] University of Rochester,[44] Xavier University,[45] Howard University,[46] Williams College,[47] and Georgetown University.[27]
She has been listed multiple times by Forbes as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. In 2015, she was listed as the 29th.[13] In 2018 she was featured among “America’s Top 50 Women In Tech”.[48]
Personal life[edit]
Burns is married to Lloyd Bean, who also worked at Xerox, and they reside in Rochester, New York.[28] She has a daughter named Melissa (born c. 1992) and a stepson named Malcolm (born c. 1989) who attended MIT.[28][49] Burns has been a major donor to Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women in New York.[50]