Carol Bartz

She became CEO of Autodesk in 1992. According to Forbes, Bartz "transformed Autodesk from an aimless maker of PC software into a leader of computer-aided design software, targeting architects and builders."[9] She is credited with instituting and promoting Autodesk's "3F" or "fail fast-forward" concept – the idea of moulding a company to risk failure in some missions, but to be resilient and move on quickly when failure occurs.[10] She stepped down as CEO in 2006 and became the executive chairman of the board.[11]

During her 14-year tenure as the company's CEO, Autodesk net revenue substantially increased, and annual revenue rose from $300 million to $1.5 billion, with the stock price rising an average of 20 percent annually.[12]

Bartz served on several boards of directors, including those of Intel, Cisco Systems, Autodesk, BEA Systems, Network Appliance, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science.[13][14] Additionally, she has been a member of the United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.[14]

Bartz pictured far left. Mark Zuckerberg listens to President Barack Obama before a private meeting where Obama dined with technology business leaders in Woodside, California, February 17, 2011. (Also pictured, from left: Carol Bartz, Art Levinson of Genentech, Steve Westly of The Westly Group, and Eric Schmidt of Google.)

On January 13, 2009, Bartz was named CEO of Yahoo!, the Internet services company which operated the fourth most-visited Web domain name in the world,[15] succeeding co-founder Jerry Yang.[10] During a conference call with financial analysts later in January 2009, she announced her intention to make sure Yahoo! got "some friggin' breathing room" so the company could "kick some butt." Rob Hof of Business Week was skeptical that Bartz or anyone else could save the company: "... it's not yet clear if Bartz can turn Yahoo around no matter how good she may be."[16]

In May 2009, Reuters reported that she had already "worked through an impressive checklist" at her new company, "upending the organizational structure, replacing executives and cutting costs, including 675 jobs, or 5 percent of the workforce."[17] Analysts described her efforts as precisely what the company required, but, as reporter Alexei Oreskovic observed:

For Yahoo's ranks, still shell-shocked from deep cuts in 2008 – including 1,600 axed jobs – the hope that Bartz brings is increasingly mixed with a dose of fear and uncertainty. Yet broad support remains for Bartz despite the tough talk, canceled holiday parties and forced vacations that have come to define her era.[17]

With a new round of job layoffs and the removal of a number of Yahoo! sites, "anxiety within the ranks has been exacerbated by what some say is a growing sense of secrecy", for which Bartz has a notable reputation: "The informal flow of information once common within the company has come to a halt."[17] Bartz was also quoted to have said that she would "drop-kick to fucking Mars" employees who leak to the press.[18] Oreskovic quoted a fearful anonymous insider: "We are all sort of wanting to believe in her because we really want to see Yahoo! turned around, but it still doesn't make it any less scary when you don't hear about what's coming up. Everything is on a need-to-know basis."[17]

At her one-year mark at Yahoo in January 2010, Bartz gave herself a "B-" grade for the job done in 2009: "It was a little tougher internally than I think I had anticipated. I did move fast, but this is a big job."[19] Others in the media, however, rated her job higher given the challenges she had to manage.[20]

When Bartz was hired by Yahoo in early 2009, she was paid an annual base salary of $1 million. She was eligible for an annual 400% bonus and received 5,000,000 shares in addition to an equity grant of $18 million of stock (to compensate for the forfeiture of the value of equity grants and post-employment medical coverage from her previous employer).[21] In 2010 Bartz was named "most overpaid" CEO by proxy voting firm Glass-Lewis when she received $47.2 million in compensation.[22]

On September 6, 2011, Bartz was removed from her position at Yahoo! (via phone call by Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock), and CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.[23] Bartz notes that Roy was physically 20 minutes away from her when she was fired, noting that "he didn't have the nerve to see [her] face to face" and later stated that the board "fucked me over".[24] Bartz expressed her desire to remain on the Board of Directors.[25][26] However, on September 9, 2011, Bartz resigned from the company's Board of Directors.[27]

Bartz has been a member of eight public company boards in the last 20 years. As of February 2018, she sits on the board of PlanGrid[28][29] and Cisco.[30] In December 2017, she was reported to own over fifty-two thousand Cisco shares, worth approximately $1.6 million.[31]

Bartz is an investor in Caliva, a cannabis-based business.[32]