Meg Whitman is an American business executive and political activist and philanthropist. Whitman is currently the CEO of Quibi and was President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and eBay.
She was the first employee and CEO of Jeffrey Katzenberg's new video streaming platform Quibi. The platform specializes in original, short-form content designed for smartphones. Katzenberg and Whitman sold the idea as a mobile-based Netflix. Their investors include Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, Viacom, and AT&T's newly-rebranded WarnerMedia.
A native of Cold Spring Harbor, a hamlet of Huntington, New York, Whitman is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. Whitman served as an executive in The Walt Disney Company, where she was Vice President of Strategic Planning throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, she served as an executive for DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro. She currently serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble and Dropbox.
Whitman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay, from 1998 to 2008. During Whitman's 10 years with the company, she oversaw its expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue, to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. In January 2011, Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard's (HP) board of directors. She was named CEO on September 22, 2011. As well as renewing focus on HP's Research & Development division, Whitman's major decision during her first year as CEO was to retain and recommit the firm to the PC business. In 2014, Whitman was named 20th in Forbes List of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.
In 2008, Whitman was cited by The New York Times as among the women most likely to become the first female President of the United States. In February 2009, Whitman announced her candidacy for Governor of California, becoming the third woman in a 20-year period to run for the office. Whitman won the Republican primary in June 2010. The fourth-wealthiest woman in the state of California with a net worth of $1.3 billion in 2010, she spent more of her own money on the race than any other political candidate spent on a single election in American history, spending $144 million of her own fortune and $178.5 million in total, including money from donors. Whitman was defeated by Democratic former Governor Jerry Brown in the 2010 California gubernatorial election by 54% to 41%. Whitman was a senior member of Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012.
Whitman founded a charitable foundation with husband Harsh on December 21, 2006, by donating to it 300,000 shares of eBay stock worth $9.4 million. By the end of its first year of operation, the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C Whitman Charitable Foundation had $46 million in assets and has disbursed $125,000 to charitable causes. Most of the money disbursed went to the Environmental Defense Fund. In 2011, the foundation donated $2.5 million to Summit Public Schools, which operates several charter schools in the San Jose area.
Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Meg Whitman and other top speakers and celebrities.
Categories:
Meg Whitman Biography
Users also viewed these speakers:
1.800.698.2536