A great deal has been written about how the CEO jobs at America’s largest companies are almost exclusively held by white men. At the other end of the spectrum, the number of female chief executives of color is extremely small: only four.
According to research by MyLogIQ, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze public companies, and which recently published “The Face of Corporate America,” white males make up 89% of CEOs at S&P 500 companies. Hispanics make up 3%, and people of Indian origin make up another 3%. Only 1% of CEOs are Black.
These are the four female CEOS of color:
Dr. Lisa Su is president and chief executive officer of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD). She was appointed to her current position in October 2014. She holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Su has published more than 40 technical articles. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers. She was listed as one of Barron’s “World’s Best CEOs” for 2019. AMD had revenue of $6.7 billion last year.
Jayshree V. Ullal is president and CEO of Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET) a software, cognitive cloud network and data center provider. She has run the company since before its initial public offering in June 2014. She formerly worked at Cisco. Ullal has a B.S. in engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management. She was named to Fortune’s “Top 20 Business persons” in 2019. Arista had revenue of $2.4 billion last year.
Sonia Syngal is CEO of Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), the troubled retailer. She has held her job since last March. Before her appointment, she ran Gap’s Old Navy division, a job she took over in 2016. Syngal holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University and a master’s in manufacturing systems engineering from Stanford University. Gap’s revenue last year was $16.8 billion.
Reshma Kewalramani, M.D., is CEO and president of biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX). She took over the job in July 2019. Kewalramani joined the company in February 2017. Before she became chief executive, she was the company’s executive vice president of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs and chief medical officer. She received her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. She was fellow in nephrology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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