Ursula Burns

Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958) is an American businesswoman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Xerox from 2009 to 2016. She is notable for being the first African-American woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company when she took over from Anne Mulcahy.

Burns joined Xerox as a summer intern in 1980 and rose through the ranks over three decades to become CEO in 2009. She oversaw the largest acquisition in Xerox's history - the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services - and later led the company's split into two independent entities. Since leaving Xerox, she has served as CEO of VEON, co-founded private equity firm Integrum Holdings, and currently serves as Non-Executive Chairwoman of Teneo.

Early life

Ursula Burns was born on September 20, 1958, in New York City to Olga Racquel Burns, a Panamanian immigrant. She was raised as the middle child of three siblings in the Baruch Houses public housing project on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Her father was largely absent from the family during her childhood.

Burns grew up in poverty, with many people telling her she had "three strikes against her: she was Black, a girl, and poor." Her mother, who received welfare assistance, supplemented the family's income by operating a home day-care center, taking ironing and cleaning jobs, and bartering office cleaning services for medical care.

Olga Burns frequently repeated the mantra "where you are is not who you are" to emphasize that one's environment does not dictate one's destiny - a philosophy that later became the title of her daughter's memoir.

Burns' mother worked multiple jobs to pay for her to attend Cathedral High School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school, rather than public school in their neighborhood.

Education

Burns graduated from Cathedral High School, where she excelled in mathematics. She went on to attend the Polytechnic Institute of New York (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering), earning her Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1980.

In 1980, she began pursuing a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering at Columbia University while simultaneously working as a summer intern at Xerox through the company's graduate engineering program for minorities. The program paid a portion of her educational expenses. She completed her master's degree in 1981.

Career

Xerox (1980-2017)

Burns began her career at Xerox Corporation in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern. The internship was part of a minority education program initiated by the Xerox National Black Employee Association. After completing her master's degree, she joined Xerox full-time in 1981, working in various roles in product development and planning throughout the 1980s.

She transitioned into management in 1991 and became executive assistant to Wayland Hicks, then chairman of Xerox. This role proved formative - she has credited it with teaching her how the company operated at the highest levels. Between 1992 and 1997, Burns served as vice president and general manager of the Workgroup Copier Business in London. She returned to the United States in 1997 and was assigned as vice president and general manager at Xerox headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

Burns continued her rise, serving successively as:

• Vice President for Global Manufacturing
• Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Services
• President (2007-2009)

CEO and Chairman

On July 1, 2009, Burns succeeded Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox, becoming the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. She was also the first woman to succeed another woman as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, as Mulcahy had been her predecessor.

Shortly after becoming CEO, Burns led the largest acquisition in Xerox history: the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), an information technology services company, in 2010. The acquisition represented a strategic shift from products to services as Xerox struggled with declining revenue in its traditional document technology business.

In 2010, Burns also assumed the role of chairman of the board, becoming only the second African-American woman to chair a Fortune 500 company.

Despite these efforts, Xerox continued to face challenges in a rapidly changing technology marketplace. In 2016, Burns oversaw the split of Xerox into two independent publicly traded companies: Xerox Corporation (focused on document technology) and Conduent Incorporated (focused on business process services, derived from the ACS acquisition).

Burns stepped down as CEO at the end of 2016 and retired as chairman of the board in 2017.

Post-Xerox career

After leaving Xerox, Burns became chairperson and CEO of VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.), a multinational telecommunications company, serving from late 2018 to early 2020.

In 2021, Burns co-founded Integrum Holdings, a private equity firm.

As of 2025, she serves on the boards of directors of:

• Teneo (Non-Executive Chairwoman)
• Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc.
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
• IHS Holding

Government service

Under President Barack Obama, Burns led the White House national program on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from 2009 to 2016. She also served as chairwoman of the President's Export Council from 2015 to 2016.

Controversies and criticism

Executive compensation

Burns' compensation drew criticism from some quarters. Between 2010 and 2012, she was awarded an average of $13 million annually. Some former Xerox employees commented that while upper management received salary increases during her tenure, staff salaries remained stagnant for years.

Layoff controversy

In late 2013, Xerox faced criticism when the company called police prior to announcing 168 layoffs at its Cary, North Carolina facility, stating they "were expecting trouble." The layoffs were the second round of approximately 500 total job cuts at the facility.

Xerox's declining fortunes

Despite Burns' efforts to transform Xerox through the ACS acquisition and pivot to services, the company's revenues continued to decline throughout her tenure. Critics noted that her strategies failed to adequately address the fundamental challenges facing the document technology industry as businesses increasingly moved toward digital solutions. The company's ultimate split into two entities was seen by some analysts as an acknowledgment that the services strategy had not achieved the desired integration with the core business.

Personal life

Burns met her husband, Lloyd F. Bean, a Xerox research scientist, during her 1980 summer internship at the company. Bean, who was twenty years her senior, had extra rooms in his house that Xerox rented for interns.

The couple married in 1988. Bean had a son, Malcolm (born c. 1989), from a previous marriage, whom Burns helped raise as her stepson. Together, they had a daughter, Melissa (born c. 1992). Malcolm attended MIT.

As Burns' career advanced and her responsibilities grew, Bean retired early from Xerox to become a stay-at-home father, a decision Burns has publicly credited as essential to her success. In a 2017 interview, she stated: "You should find a great partner. Man, woman, whatever it is - you have to find a good one."

Lloyd Bean died in January 2019. The couple had lived in Rochester, New York.

Publications

In 2021, Burns published her memoir, Where You Are Is Not Who You Are: A Memoir, which chronicles her journey from poverty in New York City public housing to the top of corporate America. The title comes from her mother's frequent advice about not letting circumstances define one's potential.

Advocacy for corporate diversity

Since leaving Xerox, Burns has become a prominent advocate for corporate board diversity. She co-founded the Board Diversity Action Alliance (BDAA) to increase the representation of underrepresented groups on corporate boards. As of 2025, she remains the only Black woman to have served as CEO of a Fortune 500 company - a fact she has called "embarrassing" for corporate America.

See also

• Xerox
• Anne Mulcahy
• Fortune 500
• African Americans in business
• Women in business

External links

• Ursula Burns at Teneo