Ursula Burns
Ursula Burns currently serves as President of global copier Xerox Corporation. On July 1, 2009, she will officially assumed the company’s top executive post as its Chief Executive Officer – a historic event for the company and for the business world.
Ursula Burns is the first African-American to lead a Fortune 500 company, and the first to succeed the position from a woman predecessor, former CEO Anne Mulcahy.
When Xerox’s Board named Burns CEO on May 21, 2009, colleagues were not surprised at the decision. A highly-regarded figure in the company, Burns’ promotion has brought understandably high expectations. In-house executives as well as observers rely on her “deep industry knowledge and technical prowess” in securing the company’s growth amidst competition.
Ursula Burns has worked at Xerox her entire career, starting out as a mechanical engineering intern in 1980. From there, she fulfilled several engineering positions in product development and planning. In 1991, she was able to observe first-hand CEO duties while serving as executive assistant to then Xerox Chairman and CEO Paul Allaire.
From 1992 until 2000, Burns became instrumental in leading Xerox’s business units. She headed the office color and fax businesses, office network copying business and the departmental business unit. She later got promoted to senior vice president for Corporate Strategic Services in May 2000 and thereafter, president of the Document Systems and Solutions Group.
Ursula Burns has become a popular icon representing women in business. She was recently ranked 27th on FORTUNE Magazine’s yearly roster of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.
Burns holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Polytechnic Institute of New York (1980) and a graduate degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University (1981).
Aside from her duties at Xerox, Ursula Burns concurrently serves on the boards of American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance and the RUMP Group.