Ursula Burns
An American businesswoman, executive, and investor who was the first Black woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Biography
Raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a public housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Ursula Burns demonstrated exceptional mathematical talent from an early age. She attended Cathedral High School before pursuing engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in 1980. That same year, she entered Xerox Corporation as a summer engineering intern. She continued her studies at Columbia University, earning a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1981 before returning to Xerox full-time.
Burns advanced steadily through Xerox's technical and executive ranks over three decades. In 1990, her career took a pivotal turn when executive Wayland Hicks selected her as his executive assistant, leading to senior leadership roles in product development and corporate manufacturing. By 2007, she was named President of Xerox. In July 2009, Burns was appointed Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Anne Mulcahy in a historic transition that marked the first female-to-female CEO handoff in Fortune 500 history and made Burns the first Black woman to head a Fortune 500 corporation. As CEO and later Chairwoman, she orchestrated Xerox's transformation from a traditional document hardware manufacturer into a global business services enterprise, culminating in the strategic separation of Xerox Corporation and Conduent Incorporated in 2016.
Following her tenure at Xerox, Burns stepped onto the global technology stage, serving as Chairman and CEO of Amsterdam-based international telecommunications provider VEON from 2018 to 2020. In 2021, she co-founded Integrum Holdings, a private equity firm focused on tech-enabled services. Parallel to her private sector career, Burns played key public policy roles: President Barack Obama appointed her to lead the White House STEM initiative (2009–2016) and chair the President's Export Council (2015–2016). She currently serves on the board of directors for major global institutions including Uber, Endeavor, and TSMC, and acts as Non-Executive Chairwoman of Teneo.
Career timeline
In their words
“Dreams do come true, but not without help, support, and a lot of hard work.”