Why do we love Carly?

Cara Carleton Sneed attended high schools in such varied locations as Ghana, England, North Carolina, and California because her father, a lawyer and later a judge, moved around frequently. While attending Stanford University she worked as a secretary at Hewlett-Packard (HP) one summer. Carly earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Medieval History from Stanford University in 1976. She dropped out of UCLA law school, but later earned an MBA from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

At the age of 25, Carly got an entry-level job at AT&T. Ten years later, she was the company's first female corporate officer. In an additional five years, she was named head of North American operations. In 1996, Carly successfully guided the spin-off of AT&T's equipment and research branch, Lucent Technologies, through an initial public stock offering of $3 billion. She left Lucent as one of the most powerful female executives in the United States. In 1999, Carly took the helm of Hewlett-Packard (HP), a Fortune 500 computer manufacturer with close to $50 billion in annual sales, becoming its president and CEO. HP is the largest business in the United States currently run by a woman. Carly is not only the first outsider to hold a top position at the 60-year-old Silicon Valley institution, but she's also the first woman to head a Dow 30 company. In order to accelerate HP's strategy, catalyze growth in a changing technology landscape, and increase long-term shareowner and customer value, Carly led the 2002 HP merger with Compaq with her savvy marketing and sales techniques.

In addition to spearheading successful business ventures and mergers, Carly has also served as a member of the board of directors of such companies as Cisco Systems, Kellogg Company, and Merck & Company. She also served on the U.S.-China Board of Trade and the board of PowerUp, a coalition of business, non-profit organizations, and government to give under-served children access to and guidance on how to use technology.

Throughout Carly's career, she has been unable to escape the chatter of those who imply that her gender affects her performance as a manager. For instance, she's constantly asked whether being a woman alters the way she runs HP or the way her peers—nearly all of them men—deal with her. In April of 2003, she fielded the question on cable news channel CNBC—and with customary aplomb declared that her sex is irrelevant: "I have to do the job I've been asked to do to the best of my ability." Carly does her job and serves as a shining and inspirational example for women in computer technology where the leadership roles are still largely dominated by men.

Biography:

Born - September 6, 1954
Austin, Texas

Achievements:

• 1976 - Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Medieval History from Stanford University
• 1999 - Listed among TIME magazine's "Digital 50", a list of the fifty most influential people in technology (Fiorina ranked #17)
• 2001 - Named an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School
• 2002 - Winner of the The Appeal of Conscience Foundation Award
• 2002 - Listed among CRN magazine's "Top 25 Executives" (Fiorina ranked #4)