Here are some snapshots of women executives in Fairfield County who have shattered the glass ceilings in their respective industries:
Ursula Burns
Ursula Burns is chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., succeeding Anne Mulcahy in 2009 to become the first African-American woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Burns and Mulcahy also became the first-ever women to lead a Fortune 500 company in succession.
Growing up in a New York City housing project, Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a mechanical engineering intern; in her first year as CEO, she would engineer the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, at $6.4 billion the largest ever by Xerox. In 2010, President Obama appointed Burns vice chair of the President”™s Export Council.
“I was never told, ”˜in order for you to do A, you must change B,”™” the Financial Times quoted Burns saying last September, in an interview that covered her career development at Xerox. “They never asked me to compromise on things that were too hard to change because they made me the person I was ”¦ No one ever said, ”˜You are just too urban, too black, or too female.”™”
Burns holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University and a master of science in the same discipline from Columbia University.
Susan Davis
Susan Davis is president and CEO of St. Vincent”™s Medical Center and St. Vincent”™s Health Services, a member of Ascension Health, also serving as Ascension”™s market leader for the New York and Connecticut region which includes hospitals in Troy, Buffalo, Binghamton, Amsterdam, and Lewiston.
Since becoming St. Vincent”™s CEO in 2004, Davis has presided over the largest major expansion project in the hospital”™s history ”“ a $160 million capital campaign that supported the Elizabeth M. Pfriem Center for Cancer Care.
A registered nurse, Davis has been known to pitch in by donning scrubs and working with her staff. Her considerable experience in nursing gives her a unique perspective as she puts her focus on patient care and developing programs that respond to the needs of the community.
Davis previously worked at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Among several volunteer causes, Davis is a “champion of mentoring” for the Mentoring Institute of the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County.
“The bottom line for a company that is thinking about establishing a youth mentoring initiative among its employees is just to do it, because you will get back many times what your employees give,” she said.
Davis received her bachelor of science in nursing from Mt. Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., and holds a master of arts in nursing administration and a doctorate in education from Columbia University, with an emphasis in management.
Â
Anne Mulcahy
Anne Mulcahy chairs the board of trustees for Stamford-based Save the Children, a Westport-based nonprofit that works to help children and their families throughout the world, while providing relief in crises.
Mulcahy previously was chairman and CEO of Norwalk-based Xerox Corp., where she started in 1976 as a field representative. In 2005, Forbes magazine named her the sixth most powerful woman in America; in 2008, Chief Executive magazine selected her as CEO of the year.
“We”™re long past having to defend or explain why women should be on boards, given all the data that shows how companies with female as well as male directors perform better,” Mulcahy told the Washington Post in a February article. “It”™s unfortunate when companies with a large percentage of women constituents don”™t reflect that in their boardrooms.”
Mulcahy is a graduate of Marymount College in Tarrytown.
Nancy Wyman
Nancy Wyman is lieutenant governor of the state of Connecticut, taking office in 2010 with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Wyman was the first woman elected as Connecticut”™s state comptroller, holding the post 16 years, and before that she was a state representative for Tolland. Her first job was as an X-ray technician, having grown up in a Brooklyn household where her father held down three jobs and her mom took on typing work at night to make ends meet.
Doing her own part, Wyman recently agreed to serve as honorary chairperson as the Girl Scouts of Connecticut marks its centennial under the slogan “never a dull moment.”
“This is an important year for girls and Girl Scouting and I believe that everyone in government, business, education and the community should support efforts like this to encourage and foster women”™s leadership,” Wyman said.
Wyman holds and associate degree in radiological technology from Long Island College Hospital.
