Executive Chairman, VEON
Ursula Burns was named chairwoman of VEON in 2017, just as the international telecom expanded offerings to its more than 240 million customers to compete as a global online company. From 2010 to 2016, she served as Xerox CEO, managing to turn a company once only known for paper copies into a viable and profitable business. Burns is the first African-American woman to lead an S&P 500 company. In 2015, she helped generate $18 billion in revenue, with adjusted earnings per share of 98 cents, all down slightly from a year earlier.After six years as Xerox CEO, she stepped down after the company split into two public companies: Conduent, a $7 billion business process outsourcing company within a tax-free structure, and the new Xerox, an $11 billion standalone company focused on document technology for which Burns was named chairwoman. She is a founding member of Change the Equation, a CEO-led non-profit program to boost STEM education, launched by the Obama administration in 2010 and member of Uber board of directors.