Ursula M. Burns American businesswoman Date of Birth: 20.09.1958 Country: USA

1. Biography of Ursula M. Burns
2. Early Life and Education
3. Career at Xerox
4. Contributions and Honors
5. Personal Life

Biography of Ursula M. Burns

Ursula M. Burns is an American businesswoman and the Chairperson and CEO of the company 'Xerox'. She became the first African-American woman to lead a company on the Fortune 500 list, which includes the largest companies in the United States. She is also the first woman to succeed another female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. In 2009, when Burns assumed her role, Forbes magazine named her the 14th most powerful woman in the world.

Early Life and Education

Ursula was born on September 20, 1958, in New York City. She was raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a public housing development. Both of her parents immigrated from Panama. Ursula attended the Cathedral High School for girls on East 56th Street in Manhattan. In 1980, she earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. A year later, she obtained a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University.

Career at Xerox

In 1980, Burns started her career at Xerox as a summer intern. After completing her master's degree in 1981, she joined the company full-time. She held various positions in product development and planning throughout the 1980s. In January 1990, Burns's career took an unexpected turn when Wayland Hicks, one of the executives at Xerox, offered her a job as his assistant. Despite initial concerns that this could be a dead end for her career, Burns accepted the offer and quickly climbed the corporate ladder. In June 1991, she became the executive assistant to Paul Allaire, who was the Chairman and CEO of Xerox at the time. In 1999, Ursula herself became the Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing. In 2000, Burns was appointed as the Senior Vice President and began working closely with Anne Mulcahy, who was set to become the CEO of Xerox. Both women describe their relationship as a true partnership. Finally, in July 2009, Ursula became the CEO of the company, succeeding Mulcahy, who remained the Chairperson until May 2010.

Contributions and Honors

Throughout her career, Ursula Burns has been a member of numerous professional and community boards, including Exxon Mobil Corporation, American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, the National Association of Manufacturers, the University of Rochester, MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance, and RUMP Group. In 2013 and 2014, she served as the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of The Business Council. Burns delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2011, marking the institute's 150th anniversary. In the same year, she also spoke at the commencement ceremony of the University of Rochester. A year later, she delivered a speech at Xavier University of Louisiana and received an honorary doctorate, one of the highest honors bestowed by the institution.

Personal Life

Ursula is married to Lloyd Bean, who also worked at Xerox. She resides in Rochester, New York. In 1992, she gave birth to her daughter Melissa, and she also has an adopted son named Malcolm, born in 1989, who attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.