Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. She is one of three women to be named CEO of a large U.S. company in the past year, reports Forbes. The common connection: all three share a similar science background. DuPont’s Ellen Kullman is the first woment to run a business segment at the chemicals giant and is a mechanical engineer who also sits on the board of the Tufts University School of Engineering. Carol Bartz, the recently appointed CEO of Yahoo, also received a scientific-driven education. She holds a computer science degree from the University of Wisconsin. Other science-minded women to jump up the ranks include Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, chairman and CEO of Sunoco, and Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo American. Virginia Rometty of IBM is in the running to be the next CEO of the company and Lila Ibrahim of Intel currently runs the company’s emerging markets platform group and has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a “young global leader.” The demographic of the C-suite is changing as women bypass obstacles to obtain the top spots at some of the globe’s largest corporations.
Math, Science Put More Women at Top
Women with scientific and mathematic backgrounds are frequently entering the top spots at some of the world’s largest corporations.
September 17, 2009