Core Field: Leadership

The Academic

Fiorina has a bachelor's degree in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford University. She holds a master's degree in business administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland at College Park, Md., and a master of science degree from MIT's Sloan School.

The Author

She is currently at work on a book about her career and her views on such issues as what constitutes a leader, how women can thrive in business and the role technology will continue to play in reshaping our world. The book will be published by the Portfolio imprint at Penguin Group and will be released in the fall of 2006.

The Award Winner

• Fiorina was named an honorary fellow of the London Business School in July 2001. In 2002 honoured with the Appeal of Conscience Award,
• 2003 she received the Concern Worldwide "Seeds of Hope" Award in recognition of her worldwide efforts to make global citizenship a priority for business.
• The Private Sector Council honored Fiorina with its 2004 Leadership Award for her contributions to improving the business of government.
• Also in 2004, the White House appointed her to the U.S. Space Commission.

In Business

Throughout an extraordinary career in business, Carly Fiorina has successfully blazed new trails, taken risks and defied the odds. As the former chairman and chief executive officer of global technology solutions provider Hewlett-Packard, she brought all of her skills to bear to write a new chapter in the life of a historic company.

After joining HP in July 1999, Fiorina led the reinvention of the company many associate with the birth of Silicon Valley, returning HP to its roots of innovation and inventiveness. Fiorina successfully led HP's controversial merger with Compaq Computer Corp., now recognized as the most successful high-tech merger in history.

In keeping with more than six decades of HP corporate stewardship, and during a time when corporations make up 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world, Fiorina called for a new era of leadership, one in which corporate leaders have an opportunity to redefine the role of the corporation, to use profit engines to raise the capabilities, extend the hopes, and extinguish despair of people across the globe.

Prior to joining HP, Fiorina spent nearly 20 years at AT&T and Lucent Technologies, where she held a number of senior leadership positions and directed Lucent's initial public offering and subsequent spin-off from AT&T.

Fiorina has previously served on the boards of Cisco Systems, Kellogg Company and Merck & Company. She currently serves on the boards of Revolution Healthcare Group and MIT Corporation Board of Trustees.