AMES, Iowa -- Anne M. Mulcahy -- the chair of the board of trustees for the independent global humanitarian organization Save the Children, and retired CEO and chair of Xerox Corp. -- will visit Iowa State University on Wednesday, Nov. 17 as the Fall 2010 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics.
Mulcahy served as CEO of Xerox from August 2001 through June 2009, and as chairman of the company until May 2010. She will present a talk titled, "Leadership: The Art of Developing Followership," at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Sun Room. The event is free and open to the public.
"Ms. Mulcahy is recognized for her transformative leadership at Xerox Corporation and for mentoring her replacement, Ursula Burns, the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company," said Dianne Bystrom, director of ISU's Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. "Her new role as chair of Save the Children provides additional insights on leadership styles and strategies."
In her presentation, Mulcahy will share what she has learned about leadership from the helm of Xerox and how those lessons are even more important in the non-profit and political worlds. Through her corporate and nonprofit leadership, Mulcahy says she has learned that good leaders develop followers and are authentic.
She recognized her role as an advocate for women in a recent Bloomberg Businessweek magazine article.
"I went from being 'I just want to be a CEO' to understanding that I have to be an advocate for women," Mulcahy said in the story. "There's responsibility that comes with the position. If you don't speak about the need to focus on the progress of women, who will? Maybe we've reached a degree of parity at the entry level, but we certainly don't have that in the executive ranks - or in government, for that matter."
As CEO of Xerox, Mulcahy was credited with steering the company on the road to recovery following a rough patch of falling earnings and rising layoffs. She worked her way up the corporate ladder at Xerox, starting as a field sales representative in 1976 and moving on to management positions in sales, human resources and marketing. She became chief staff officer in 1997, corporate senior vice president in 1998, and president and chief operating officer in 2000.
Mulcahy was elected chair of the Save the Children board of trustees in March 2010. She said she chose to work with Save the Children because of its "long history, fiscal accountability and capacity to affect change for children on a global scale."
She also serves on the board of directors for Catalyst, Johnson & Johnson, Target Corp. and The Washington Post Co.
Mulcahy is the 20th prominent woman leader to visit Iowa State under sponsorship of the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics, which was established in 1995 to honor the Iowa native regarded as one of the nation's most respected women political leaders. Smith was the only woman to chair the Republican National Party (1974-77). The chair established in her name brings a prominent public leader, scholar or activist to the Iowa State campus each year.
Additional information on the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women
in Politics, including a complete list of past speakers, is
available here.
