Saturday, May 23, 2009

Congrats Ursula!


As I browse my favorite blogs this am, absence is the congratulatory responses that I expect to see from the so called black woman empowerment sites, I read the usually complaints about the fool uncle tom Michael Steele, Strip Club prowling for eligible men, and other frivolous nonsense.

Mrs. Burns currently serves as president of Xerox Corporation, named to the position in March 2007. She previously served as president of the company's Business Group Operations and as a corporate senior vice president. On May 21, 2009, it was announced she will succeed Anne M. Mulcahy as CEO starting July 1, making Xerox the largest company headed up by an African American woman.

Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern. She subsequently held several positions in engineering, including product development and planning. In June 1991 she became the executive assistant to Paul A. Allaire, then Xerox chairman and chief executive officer.

From 1992 through 2000, Burns led several business teams, including the office color and fax business, office network copying business and the departmental business unit. In May 2000, she was named senior vice president, Corporate Strategic Services, and most recently, president of the Document Systems and Solutions Group.

Burns received a bachelor of science degree from Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1980 and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in 1981. She serves on professional and community boards, including American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance and the RUMP Group.

So I just wanted to congratulate a sister from humble means, child of a single mother in New York City, and graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, that started a internship at Xerox over 25 years ago, to become the first African American Women to head a fortune 500 corporation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't give a crap if you're black. white, red, yellow or plaid! If you can do the job do the job! White people have NO problem with that until it's made a BIG issue.