The esteemed career of business luminary and leadership expert Carly Fiorina has had two constants: leadership and problem solving. From helming Hewlett Packard (HP), to her 2016 run to lead the country, to heading several philanthropic organizations tackling global poverty and female empowerment, she’s channeled what is an innate ability to help others reach their highest leadership potential.
Notably, Carly has been a business leader in turbulent times, leading HP to become the 11th largest company in the U.S. when the industry was facing the worst technology recession in 25 years, and during SARS and post-9/11. In this capacity, she exhibited the quintessential traits of a leader: making the difficult decisions necessary to preserve and protect in the short-term, while simultaneously initiating bold moves to create strength and future opportunity upon a return to stabilization.
Carly’s leadership skills have been leveraged to problem solve world health crises. During the 2014 Ebola crisis, as Chairman of the Board for Good360, Carly led the world’s largest product philanthropy organization’s dramatic response to the crisis by galvanizing the U.S. business community to provide U.S. supplies to West Africa.
Carly’s leadership expertise has been sought by the public sector, as well. She was an advisor for the State Department and Department of Defense, and counseled on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security. After 9/11, she was appointed by President Bush and CIA Director Michael Hayden to serve as the Chairman of the External Advisory Board of the CIA. In this capacity, Carly held the highest clearances available to a civilian, and focused her efforts on CIA recruitment policies, information technology capabilities and organizational integration.
In 2015, Carly launched a campaign for President. Running as a political outsider, she spoke about empowering and engaging citizens to take back government from a political ruling class that has failed to deliver results. During her run, many more Americans came to know her as a clear-eyed, direct leader capable of actually solving problems.
Today, Carly is a passionate, articulate advocate for problem-solving, innovation, and effective leadership. She is founder and Chairman of Carly Fiorina Enterprises, which works with companies to create an equitable workplace culture, build high-performance teams, and teach the fundamentals of leadership.
Carly’s mission is to inspire, equip and connect individuals and teams to seize opportunities, face challenges, and accelerate impact in their communities and places of work. She knows that everyone has more potential than they realize, that those closest to the problem understand the problem best, and that leading to unlock the potential in others and actually solve problems can result in both progress and joy.
In addition to her regular speeches to students, businesses and non-profits, Carly is also a best-selling author. Her titles include Tough Choices and Rising to the Challenge. Her third book, Find Your Way, was published in spring 2019 and documents the path to unleashing one’s own power and highest potential based on Carly’s own personal and profession.
In December of 2020, Carly was elected the Chair of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Carly and her husband, Frank, have been happily married for 33 years. They reside in northern Virginia near their daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters.