Ursula Burns hired to lead embattled consulting firm Teneo

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business

Former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns has been named chairwoman of Teneo, the embattled consulting firm that is still dealing with the fallout from the resignation of its CEO, reportedly over drunken behavior at a party.

Burns’ appointment is effective immediately, according to a company statement. She’s not a stranger to Teneo, having served as a senior adviser to the company since 2017. She has also been a client of the firm.

“As chairwoman, I intend to focus on advising and growing Teneo’s clients, as well as continuing to build a world-class firm culture,” Burns said in the statement.

Her appointment comes a week after Declan Kelly resigned as chairman and CEO. He announced last month that he made an “inadvertent, public and embarrassing mistake” at a party in early May. The Wall Street Journal said that Kelly was “behaving inappropriately” at a party and reportedly “touched women without their consent.”

Kelly’s actions led to him being removed from the board on May 3 and General Motors dropping Teneo as an adviser, the newspaper said. Soon after, Teneo named Paul Keary CEO.

Burns was the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she was the head of Xerox. She has been outspoken about companies making excuses for failing to hire more black executives.

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