Ursula Burns, Ceo Xerox

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Background Brief description of Xerox, and its organizational structure Responsibility as CEO Responsibility of Ursula Burns as CEO of Xerox What plans does Ursula Burn have for Xerox? How has Ursula Burns managed change and innovation? Background Ursula M. Burns is both the chief executive officer and chairwoman of Xerox. According to Byrnes and Crockett (2009), Burns is the first woman CEO of African American descent to ‘head a Fortune 500 company’ (Byrnes & Crockett, 2009). Incidentally, Burns also succeeded a woman at the helm of Xerox (Anne Mulcahy), in 2009 (Morris, 2007). Born in 1958 to Panamanian immigrants Ursula Burns was raised in a housing project in New York City. After high school, Burns joined the NYU Polytechnic Institute for her mechanical engineering degree. A year later, she obtained her master degree in the same field at Columbia University. Her first stint at Xerox was as an intern in the summer of 1980 (BlackEntrepreneurProfile.com, n. d.) and after completing her masters degree, she was involved in several planning and products development roles. In 1990, Wayland Hicks, a senior executive at Xerox, appointed Ms. Burns as his executive secretary. Her dedication and hard work saw her rise through the ranks to the position of vice-president in-charge of global manufacturing in 1999. A year later, Burns was appointed senior vice president of the company. Nine years later, she became the first-ever woman CEO of African American Descent to head Xerox. Xerox Corporation Xerox Corporation is a document management company with operations in 160 countries across the globe. The company was founded in 1906 and is one of the Fortune 500 companies. It has also been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Ellis, 2006). The company is involved in the production and sale of a wide range of black-and-white as well as color printers, photo

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