Ursula Burns

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.[21] 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 marry.[22] 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.[21] 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.[23]

In 2007, Burns assumed the role of president of Xerox.[23] In July 2009 she was named CEO, succeeding Mulcahy, who remained as chairwoman until May 2010.[21] The first black woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company,[1] Burns was also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company. Shortly after being named CEO, Burns led the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services.[24] While as CEO, Burns was named an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2013.[25] In 2016, she led Xerox in a split into two independent companies:[26] Xerox Corporation and Conduent Incorporated.[24] She remained chairwoman and CEO of Xerox through the process, and was then appointed chairwoman of the standalone document technology company.[27] 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[26] until May 2017, when she left the Xerox board and her role as chairperson.[28]

U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Burns to help lead the White House National STEM program in 2009,[29][30] and she remained a leader of the STEM program until 2016.[6] In March 2010 President Obama appointed Burns as vice-chair of the President's Export Council,[29][30] a role which she held from 2015 to 2016.[6]

Burns has served on numerous boards, including those of Boston Scientific,[8] FIRST, the National Association of Manufacturers, the University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance, and the RUMP Group.[8] She remains a board director of the American Express Corporation,[29][31] Exxon Mobil Corporation,[32] Datto Inc.,[29][33] and Nestlé.[24] In July 2017, it was announced that she would join the board of the beverage company Diageo on April 2, 2018.[26] She joined Teneo as a senior advisor in June 2017.[24] Burns joined the board of directors of Uber in late September 2017.[34] In 2020, she was appointed to the board of directors of Waystar.[35]

In July 2017, Burns was elected chairman of VEON, the world's 11th largest telecom service provider by subscribers,[36] by its board of directors.[37] With the sudden departure of the CEO in March 2018, she was made executive chairwoman pending a selection process, and in December 2018, she was appointed as CEO.[38]

In February 2020, Kaan Terzioğlu and Sergi Herrero were appointed co-CEOs, succeeding Burns.[39] In June 2020, Gennady Gazin succeeded Burns as chairman.[40]

Burns was announced to be joining Diageo board as a non-executive director, but Diageo announced on March 2018 that "Burns will not take up her appointment as Non-Executive Director on the Diageo Board" as she has been appointed as interim Executive Chairman of VEON[41]