99 Facts About Carly Fiorina

Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina is an American businesswoman and politician, known primarily for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

In 2002, Carly Fiorina oversaw what was then the largest technology sector merger in history, in which HP acquired rival personal computer manufacturer, Compaq.

Carly Fiorina subsequently served as Chair of the philanthropic organization Good360.

Carly Fiorina ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 2010 and the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Carly Fiorina was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Carly Fiorina was a candidate in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, and was for seven days the vice-presidential running mate of Ted Cruz until he suspended his campaign.

In 2020, Carly Fiorina endorsed the presidential campaign of Democrat Joe Biden.

The name "Carleton", from which "Carly Fiorina" is derived, has been used in every generation of the Sneed family since the Civil War.

At the time of her birth, Carly Fiorina's father was a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

Carly Fiorina is mainly of English and German ancestry, and was raised Episcopalian.

Carly Fiorina's paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph P Sneed, was a Methodist minister and educator in Texas.

Carly Fiorina was a Brownie but did not become a Girl Scout due to her family's frequent moves.

Carly Fiorina later attended five different high schools, including one in Ghana, graduating from Charles E Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina.

Carly Fiorina received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and medieval history at Stanford University, in 1976.

Carly Fiorina attended the UCLA School of Law in 1976, but dropped out after one semester.

In 1980, Fiorina received a Master of Business Administration, in marketing, from the Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park.

In 1995, Carly Fiorina led corporate operations for Lucent Technologies, Inc.

Carly Fiorina played a key role in planning and implementing the 1996 initial public offering of a successful stock and company launch strategy.

Later in 1996, Carly Fiorina was appointed president of Lucent's consumer products sector.

That year, Carly Fiorina chaired a 2.5 billion joint venture between Lucent's consumer communications and Royal Philips Electronics, under the name Philips Consumer Communications.

In early September 2001, in the wake of the bursting of the Tech Bubble, Carly Fiorina announced the acquisition of PC maker Compaq with 25 billion in stock, which, at the time, was the second largest producer of personal computers, after Dell.

Carly Fiorina was frequently at odds with HP's board of directors, and she had to fight with the board for the merger.

Carly Fiorina proceeded to reorganize HP and merge the parts of it that she kept with Compaq.

In 2008, former acting CEO of Compaq Ben Rosen stated that although Carly Fiorina lacked the skills to run the merged company, her successors made it work.

In 1997, prior to Carly Fiorina's joining the company, HP's Dutch subsidiary formed a partnership with a company in Dubai, Redington Gulf, which sold HP's products in Iran.

Carly Fiorina "acknowledged she complied with Hayden's request, redirecting trucks of HP computer servers that were on their way to retail stores from a warehouse in Tennessee to the Washington Beltway, where they were escorted by NSA security" to the agency's Fort Meade headquarters.

Carly Fiorina instituted three major changes shortly after her arrival: replacing profit sharing with bonuses awarded if the company met financial expectations, a reduction in operating units from 83 to 12, and consolidating back-office functions.

Carly Fiorina faced a backlash among HP employees and the tech community for her leading role in the demise of HP's egalitarian "The HP Way" work culture and guiding philosophy, which she felt hindered innovation.

Two days before Carly Fiorina announced the HP+iPod, Jobs announced a new product, the iPod mini, catching Carly Fiorina off guard.

In July 2005, soon after Carly Fiorina resigned as CEO, her successor Mark Hurd ended HP's agreement with Apple, within days of taking office, a "highly symbolic decision" that was well-received as a return to innovation by HP.

In June 2001, Carly Fiorina asked employees to either take pay cuts or use their allotted vacation time to cut additional costs, resulting in more than 80,000 people signing up and saving HP 130 million.

In September 2001, Carly Fiorina said she intended to cut an additional 15,000 jobs in the event of a merger with Compaq.

In 1999, when Carly Fiorina became CEO of HP, the company had 84,800 employees.

In 2004, HP fell dramatically short of its predicted third-quarter earnings, and Carly Fiorina fired three executives during a 5 AM telephone call.

Less than a month later, the board brought back Tom Perkins and forced Carly Fiorina to resign as chair and chief executive officer of the company.

At the time of the announcement, Loren Steffy of The Houston Chronicle suggested that the EDS acquisition after Carly Fiorina's tenure was evidence that her failed plan to acquire part of Pricewaterhouse Coopers was justified.

In 2003, Carly Fiorina was named by Fortune Magazine the most powerful woman in business, a position she held for five years.

In October 2006, Carly Fiorina published an autobiography entitled Tough Choices, about her career and her views on issues, what constitutes a leader, how women can thrive in business, and the role technology will continue to play in reshaping the world.

In October 2007, Carly Fiorina signed with the Fox Business Network as a business commentator.

Carly Fiorina served as a member of the MIT Corporation from 2004 to 2012.

Carly Fiorina was a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum in 2005.

Carly Fiorina is an honorary fellow of the London Business School.

In 2015, Carly Fiorina received an honorary degree and delivered the commencement address at Southern New Hampshire University.

Carly Fiorina served as Fund Chair of One Woman Initiative, a partnership between the private sector and government agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development and the United States Department of State.

Carly Fiorina was referred to as Global Ambassador to Opportunity International.

On May 4,2015, Opportunity International announced that Carly Fiorina was resigning from the Board after the announcement of her presidential candidacy.

Carly Fiorina is the chair and CEO of the Carly Fiorina Foundation, a charity that has donated to causes including Care-a-Van for Kids, a transportation program to aid seriously ill children, and the African Leadership Academy, an educational institution in South Africa.

In 2017, Carly Fiorina joined the board of trustees for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

In 2006, Carly Fiorina worked as an advisor for Republican Senator John McCain's presidential campaign.

On March 7,2008, Carly Fiorina was named fundraising chair for the Republican National Committee's "Victory" initiative.

Carly Fiorina was reportedly a "point person" for the McCain campaign on issues related to business and economic affairs.

In early 2008, she was referred to in media sources as a potential vice presidential candidate, In discussing the possibility of Carly Fiorina becoming McCain's running mate, political analyst Stuart Rothenberg pointed out her potential downside, stating that she "is rather easy to sketch out" because she would "become a talking point for Democrats" who would focus on Carly Fiorina's generous severance package from when she had left HP and her management style.

Rothenberg concluded that Carly Fiorina was "like a dream come true" for Democratic opposition researchers.

Carly Fiorina performed unpaid service on the Defense Business Board, which looked at staffing issues, among others, at The Pentagon.

On November 4,2009, Carly Fiorina formally announced her candidacy in the 2010 Senate election in a bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

On June 8,2010, Carly Fiorina won the Republican primary election for the Senate with over 50 percent of the vote, beating Campbell and State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

The Los Angeles Times noted that Carly Fiorina had conservative positions on certain social issues.

Carly Fiorina stated that she opposed litmus tests for Supreme Court nominations and did not favor a federal "personhood" amendment.

Carly Fiorina launched and developed a political action committee known as "Up-Project" from 2011 to 2014.

Carly Fiorina was co-chair of CPAC 2014, making a speech at the conference.

At CPAC 2015, Carly Fiorina again made a speech at the conference.

Carly Fiorina ruled out running for the US Senate in 2016, but refused to rule out running for president in 2016 or Governor of California in 2018.

In November 2014, The Washington Post reported that Carly Fiorina was "actively exploring" a run for president.

On May 4,2015, Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy during an interview on Good Morning America, with George Stephanopoulos.

Carly Fiorina entered the race with immediate criticism of Hillary Clinton.

Shortly after Carly Fiorina announced her entry into the 2016 presidential race, in a replay of her 2010 senatorial race, the social media and editorial outlets questioned her tenure as HP's CEO as a basis for her run for president, focusing around US job cuts and offshoring that Carly Fiorina directed during her tenure at HP, and contrasting it with the high compensation bonuses she received from the company.

Carly Fiorina's performance led news sources to conclude she had won the early debate.

Carly Fiorina was sharply criticized for this in the media; the gaffe consumed much of the post-debate coverage.

On March 9,2016, Carly Fiorina endorsed Texas Senator Ted Cruz for President, saying she was "horrified" by Donald Trump, and that Cruz was the only candidate that could stop him.

Carly Fiorina received one electoral college vote for vice president from a faithless elector in Texas.

In 2020, Carly Fiorina endorsed Joe Biden's presidential campaign due to her disapproval of President Donald Trump.

When she first entered politics as a Senate candidate in November 2009, Carly Fiorina was "considered to be a moderate Republican with little history on social issues" and her views changed during her run for Senate and her run for President in 2016.

In 2020, Carly Fiorina announced that she would vote for Joe Biden for President.

FiveThirtyEight, a non-partisan organization which analyzes candidates' positions and conducts polling, considered Carly Fiorina to be within the moderate and establishment wings of the GOP.

Carly Fiorina said in May 2015 that "drug addiction shouldn't be criminalized" and cited "decriminalizing drug addiction and drug use" as an example of a successful reform.

Carly Fiorina opposes the legalization of marijuana, but says that she believes in states' rights, and that as president she will not enforce the federal ban on marijuana in Colorado, where voters have legalized marijuana as a matter of state law.

In California, Carly Fiorina supported the DREAM Act, which would allow children brought to the US by their parents when they were under the age of 16 to secure permanent US residency and a path to citizenship, if they graduate from college or serve in the armed forces.

Carly Fiorina later said that she hoped the nation would support Obergefell v Hodges, the decision legalizing same-sex marriage, and respect individuals' consciences.

In November 2009, during a The Wall Street Journal interview, Carly Fiorina said that she voted in favor of Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that banned same-sex marriage in that state.

In 2010, Carly Fiorina stated that she supported the Defense of Marriage Act, but supported civil unions.

Carly Fiorina supported the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

In 2015, Carly Fiorina reaffirmed her support for civil unions with the same government benefits accorded to married persons.

In 2017, Carly Fiorina headlined the 40th anniversary of Log Cabin Republicans, a political action committee which supports LGBT rights.

Carly Fiorina believes employers should decide whether they should provide paid maternity leave to their employees and it should not be mandated by the government, noting that some companies in the private sector are already doing so.

Carly Fiorina pointed out that HP, while she was CEO, offered paid maternity leave.

In September 2015, Fiorina "offered a vigorous defense of CIA waterboarding," a tactic used by the United States during the George W Bush-era War on Terror.

Carly Fiorina was critical of the Affordable Care Act health care reform legislation during the debate in 2009 that led to the act's passage.

Carly Fiorina has supported repealing the ACA during both her 2010 Senate run in California, and in her 2015 presidential campaign.

Carly Fiorina has stated that "there is no constitutional role for the federal government to be setting minimum wages" and that the minimum wage "is a classic example of a policy that is best carried out in the states" because economic conditions in New Hampshire vary significantly from more expensive economic conditions in Los Angeles or New York.

Carly Fiorina "generally believes that reducing government regulations helps to spur the economy".

Carly Fiorina favors lowering tax rates, simplifying the tax code, and closing loopholes that she says mostly benefit wealthy taxpayers.

Carly Fiorina has said she would cut the pay of federal workers and base their compensation on performance.

Carly Fiorina advocates zero-based budgeting for the federal budget, which would start the annual budgeting process for each department from a baseline of zero.

Carly Fiorina married Todd Bartlem, a Stanford classmate, in June 1977.

Carly Fiorina married him in 1985; it was the second marriage for both.

Carly Fiorina has said that they wanted to have children together but "that wasn't God's plan".

Frank Carly Fiorina had two daughters, Traci and Lori Ann, from his first marriage.

In February 2009, Carly Fiorina was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer.

Carly Fiorina underwent a double mastectomy at Stanford Hospital in March 2009, followed by chemotherapy, which caused her to temporarily lose her hair, and later radiation therapy.