Carol Bartz….Who is she?

Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk, Inc, has accepted to take on the daunting role of CEO for the once powerful search giant Yahoo! Yahoo is expected to officially announce her acceptance shortly, according to a post on the Wall Street Journal. It has taken Yahoo! two months to find a replacement for Jerry Yang, who stepped down in November.

When Yahoo! started their CEO search, consensus on the street was Yahoo would profit from a leader with strong Web 2.0 knowledge, and experience in advertising, since those were key factors in the future success of Yahoo. Instead Yahoo took the safe route and will be hiring someone with little experience in Web 2.0 or advertising, yet strong in Tech and experience leading a success strong public company. According to Forbes.com:

As a CEO of Autodesk her major duties were to enhance relationships with key customers, partners, governments, and investors along with focusing on activities designed to improve the business climate for Autodesk

Carol Bartz graduated from The University of Wisconsin with an honors degree in computer science, granted an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from William Woods University. She is well known in the Technology Industry, and has received many accolades and awards. Her profile, listed on the Autodesk website highlights some of those awards:

Honors & Awards

50 Most Powerful Women in Business, Fortune, 2005
50 Women to Watch, Wall Street Journal, 2005
The World’s 30 Most Respected CEOs, Barron’s, 2005
World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, Forbes, 2005 & 2004
Exemplary Community Leadership Award, National Conference for Community & Justice, 2004
Women in Technology List, Business Week, 2004
100 Most Influential Women in Business, San Francisco Business Times, 2004
Spirit of Life Award, City of Hope, 2004
Entered into the Congressional Record by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, 2003
Avatar Award for Women of Excellence, National Association of Female Executives, 2003
Ada Lovelace Award, Association for Women in Computing, 2003
Ernst & Young’s Northern California Master Entrepreneur of the Year, 2001
Horatio Alger Award, 2000
Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, 1997
Recognized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), 1994

Along with the honors received, she has accomplished a vast amount throughout her career:

Appointed to President Bush’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Bartz is one of a select group of industry leaders expected to play a key role in shaping and setting the government’s high tech agenda—ranging from R&D funding to new broadband incentives.
CEO of Autodesk from 1992 to 2006
Executive chairman of Autodesk Inc. from 2006-Present
Former executive at Sun Microsystems Inc, where she served as vice president of worldwide field operations
Director Positions
- Board of Directors for Cisco Systems Inc. with former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang
- Board of Directors for Intel Corp. with Yahoo President Susan Decker
- Director, Member of Audit Committee and Member of Finance Committee at Intel Corporation from 2008-Present
- Lead Independent Director, Chairman of Acquisition Committee and Chairman of Investment/Finance Committee at Cisco Systems, Inc. from 1996-Present
- Independent Director, Chairman of Compensation Committee and Member of Nominating/ Corporate Governance Committee at NetApp, Inc. from 1995-Present
- Former Director, Member of Compensation Committee and Member of Nominating & Governance Committee at BEA Systems Inc. from 1995-Present
- Former Director at Vodafone Americas Inc. from 1994-Present
- Former Director at NYSE Euronext, Inc.
- Director at Impact Venture Partners
- Director at Combinet, Inc.
- Director at PipeLinks, Inc.
- Board Director at American Internet Corporation
Advisory Positions
- Member of Executive Advisory Board at NetContinuum, Inc.
- Advisor at Growth Networks, Inc.