Anne M. Mulcahy

Anne M. Mulcahy is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Conn. She was named CEO of Xerox on Aug. 1, 2001, and chairman on Jan. 1, 2002.In addition to the Xerox board, she is a member of the boards of directors of Catalyst, Citigroup Inc., Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. and Target Corporation, and is a member of The Business Council.

The Wall Street Journal named Mulcahy one of 50 women to watch in 2005 and Forbes Magazine ranked her at the sixth position among the Most Powerful Women in America in 2005.

Early life and education

Mulcahy was born Oct. 21, 1952. In Rockville Centre, New York in 1974, she received her B.A. in English and Journalism from Marymount College, (a branch of Fordham University) in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Career at Xerox

Mulcahy joined Xerox as a field sales representative in 1976 and rose through the ranks. From 1992-1995, Mulcahy was vice president for human resources, responsible for compensation, benefits, human resource strategy, labor relations, management development and employee training. Mulcahy became chief staff officer in 1997 and corporate senior vice president in 1998. Prior to that, she served as vice president and staff officer for Customer Operations, covering South America and Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and China.

Though never intent on running Xerox, Anne was selected by the board of directors in 2001. At the time the company was in debt US$17.1 billion and held $154 million in cash. The year prior, the stock price of Xerox fell $64 to $4.43. She claims that duty and loyalty to being with the company for so long compelled her to help the company.

Later in her tenure, Anne cut the workforce by 30% and eliminated the desktop portion of Xerox. Visiting offices all over the nation, she attempted to boost morale and help the rest of the organization see how hard she was working, hoping for a mirror effect. She was successful in her efforts when Xerox experienced 4 straight quarters of operating profits as well as an $11 increase in the stock price.