BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN URSULA M. BURNS CHAIRPERSON AND CEO OF XERON THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN CEO TO HEAD A FORTUNE 500 COMPANY : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                               BLACK            SOCIAL             HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Ursula M. Burns  born September 20, 1958  serves as Madam Chairman and CEO of Xerox. She is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company.  She is also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company. In 2009, Forbes rated her the 14th most powerful woman in the world.

Early life

Burns was raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a New York city housing project. Both of her parents were Panamanian immigrants. She attended Cathedral High School, a Catholic all-girls school on East 56th Street in New York. She went on to obtain a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of NYU in 1980 and a master of science in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University a year later.

Career at Xerox

In 1980, Burns first worked for Xerox as a summer intern, permanently joining a year later, in 1981, after completing her master's degree. She worked in various roles in product development and planning in the remainder of the 1980s throughout her 20s.

In January 1990, her career took an unexpected turn when Wayland Hicks, then a senior executive, offered Burns a job as his executive assistant. She accepted and worked for him for roughly nine months when she was ready to go back home because she was about to be married to Lloyd Bean. In June 1991, she became executive assistant to then chairman and chief executive Paul Allaire. In 1999, she was named vice president for global manufacturing.

In 2000, Burns was named a senior vice president and began working closely with soon to be CEO Anne Mulcahy, in what both women have described as a true partnership. Nine years later, in July 2009, she was named CEO, succeeding Mulcahy, who remained as chair woman until May 2010.

                              Community activities

Burns has served on numerous professional and community boards, including Exxon Mobil Corporation, American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, National Association of Manufacturers,University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance, and the RUMP Group. She will serve as Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Business Council in 2013 and 2014.

She was the Commencement speaker at MIT's 2011 Commencement, which was also the conclusion of MIT's 150th anniversary celebration. She delivered the 2011 Commencement address at the University of Rochester. She was the 2012 Commencement speaker for Xavier University of Louisiana's May 12 Commencement ceremony, where she also received an honorary degree, one of the institution's highest honors.