Born on September 20, 1958, Ursula Burns grew up in the public housing projects on the lower east side in New York City. Olga Burns, a single mother, operated a home day-care center and took other side jobs in order for Ursula to attend Cathedral High School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school. Ursula is one of three children.

In 1980, Ursula Burns graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn, earning her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. That year, she began pursuing a master’s degree in the same field from Columbia University and that summer, joined Xerox’s graduate engineering internship program for minorities which helped cover the cost of the graduate program. She was hired by Xerox full time after graduation.

Burns quickly gained a reputation for speaking her mind and on one occasion, she questioned Wayland Hicks, an Executive Vice President, during a meeting regarding diversity. After a few follow-up discussions, she was asked to be his executive assistant. Burns progressed through various management and engineering roles and achieved the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Services in 2000. She was provided with the opportunity to broaden her leadership in global research, product development, marketing, and delivery.

Ursula Burns was named President of Xerox in 2007 and two years later she was appointed CEO. In 2010, she was promoted to Chairman. This was the first time an African American woman headed a Fortune 500 Company.

In 2009, President Obama appointed Burns to lead the White House national program on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) where she served until 2016. Burns was also the Chair of the President’s Export Council from 2015 to 2016 after previously serving as Vice Chair for five years.

Burns stepped down as CEO of Xerox in 2016, and as chairman of the board in 2017. The same year, she became Chairman and CEO of VEON, an Amsterdam-based telecommunications provider. She resigned from both posts in 2020.

Burns is a current member of the Board of Directors of Teneo, Exxon Mobil, Uber Technologies, Inc., and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. She is on several private company boards and provides leadership council to community, educational, non-profit organizations.

She published her memoir entitled Where You Are Is Not Who You Are in 2021.

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