Ursula M. Burns became the first black lady to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company in July 2009. The 57-year old Burns started her career as an engineering intern in 1980.
Burns led several business teams including the office color and fax business and office network printing business. In April 2007, Burns was named president of Xerox, expanding her leadership to include the company's IT organisation, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate marketing and global accounts.
Burns ranked 10th in the Fortune list of '50 Most Powerful Women in America'. Her salary package for 2008 stood at $887,500, but total compensation stood at a whopping $6,003,126.
In an interview with the New York Times, she described growing up poor with "lots of Jewish immigrants, fewer Hispanics and African-Americans, but the great equaliser was poverty." Burns' mother used to run a home day care centre.