Ursula Burns

First Black woman to run a Fortune 500 company.

Ursula Burns wasn’t born into wealth.

She grew up in New York City’s housing projects, raised by a single mother who worked multiple jobs.

But she had a plan: engineering was her ticket out.

In 1980, she joined Xerox as a summer intern, then climbed the ranks (executive assistant, VP, president) until, in 2009, she shattered barriers as CEO.

She wasn’t just the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company… she was also the first woman to succeed another woman as CEO.

Her biggest move? A $6.4B acquisition, transforming Xerox from a struggling copier company into a tech-driven powerhouse.

By 2016, she led Xerox through a historic split into two companies before stepping down.

But she didn’t stop leading.

She went on to serve on the boards of Uber, American Express, ExxonMobil, and more, later becoming CEO of telecom giant VEON and co-founding a $1.1B private equity firm.

Oh, and President Obama tapped her to lead STEM education for the White House.

Her memoir says it best: “Where You Are Is Not Who You Are.”