Ursula M. Burns is Chairman and CEO at Xerox. She is the first African American woman to serve as the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and she is the first woman to succeed another woman as a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.
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| Courtesy of Xerox |
She holds mechanical engineering degrees from NYU and Columbia.
Ms. Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a summer mechanical engineering intern. Throughout her tenure at Xerox, she oversaw manufacturing, product development, logistical functions, and engineering. She led Xerox in its largest acquisition to date with a $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services in 2009.
"We all need to be more impatient with the status quo. I believe we all need to shift the emphasis in our thinking...from why we can't create more jobs to how we can create more jobs, from why we can't compete to how we can compete, from why hunger and poverty and injustice exist in the world to how they can be eliminated. In other words, we all need to be a little more impatient."--Ursula M. Burns
She is #7 on Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" list and #17 on Forbes "The 100 Women Who Run the World" list.
In 2009, President Obama appointed Ms. Burns to help lead the White House national program on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Ms. Burns was appointed vice chair for the President's Export Council in March 2010. In addition, Ms. Burns is on the short list to join the Obama administration as Secretary of Commerce.
Read more about Chairwoman Burns here.
On Sunday's MSNBC Education Nation Student Town Hall, NerdLand host, Professor Melissa Harris-Perry brought together students, teachers, and lawmakers for a frank discussion about the state of education in America. Some of the best ideas and most inspiring stories came from the students themselves.
One of these students was Eboni Boykin, a first year at Columbia University. Boykin graduated from Normandy High School in St. Louis, Missouri. The honor student was a varsity cheerleader, chief editor of the school newspaper, and a member of the student council.
But unlike many of her peers who shared similar accomplishments, Boykin grew up homeless. She moved from state to state with her mother and mostly lived in homeless shelters or on the floors of acquaintances. She attended around 15 schools through out her childhood as they bounced around in Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.
Boykin says she was able to stay focused because her mother always told her that education can create a better life.
That's exactly what she did and she received a full scholarship to the Ivy League institution. "Getting into Columbia definitely teaches me that just keeping the faith
and not giving up pays off. And it just teaches me if you hang in
there you can have anything you want if you are willing to work hard for
it."
She plans to become a journalist and SBW thinks she's off to an amazing start. Kudos to you, Ms. Boykin.
