Julie Sweet

Julie Sweet
Born	Julie Terese Spellman 1967
Birthplace	United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive, attorney
Title	Chair and CEO, Accenture
Education	Columbia University (JD)
Children	2
Website	[https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/leadership/julie-sweet Official site]

Julie Terese Sweet (née Spellman, born 1967) is an American business executive and attorney who serves as chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of Accenture, a multinational professional services and consulting company. Appointed CEO in September 2019, she became the first woman to lead the firm in its history, taking the helm of a company that at the time employed approximately half a million people worldwide. Before rising to the top of Accenture, Sweet spent more than a decade as a corporate attorney at the elite law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where she became a partner — a trajectory that shaped her approach to leadership and strategic thinking. Under her leadership, Accenture has become one of the largest technology services companies in the world, with recent quarterly revenues reaching $17.7 billion. Sweet has been recognized as one of Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women and has become a prominent voice in global business discussions on artificial intelligence, workforce transformation, and corporate diversity.

Early Life

Julie Terese Spellman was born in 1967 in the United States. Details about her upbringing and family background prior to her higher education are limited in publicly available sources. In interviews, Sweet has discussed the formative experiences that shaped her career philosophy, including the importance of being open to unexpected opportunities. In a widely cited piece of advice she has offered to students and young professionals, Sweet has emphasized the value of never turning down new experiences and challenges, a principle she has described as central to her own career trajectory.

Sweet has spoken about how her career path was not linear and that leadership transitions often begin not with certainty but with hesitation, followed by a decision that alters the course of one's professional life. These reflections have been part of her broader public commentary on career development and the qualities necessary for success in corporate leadership.

Education

Sweet earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College, a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. She subsequently attended Columbia Law School at Columbia University, where she earned her Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Her legal education at Columbia provided the foundation for a career that would begin in corporate law before transitioning to business leadership. The combination of a liberal arts undergraduate education and rigorous legal training has been cited in profiles of Sweet as having contributed to her analytical and strategic approach to business management.

Career

Legal Career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore

After completing her law degree at Columbia, Sweet joined Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, based in New York City. She spent more than a decade at the firm, eventually rising to the position of partner. At Cravath, Sweet practiced corporate law, gaining extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and complex financial transactions. The firm's lockstep compensation and rigorous training model are well known in the legal industry, and Sweet's tenure there provided her with deep expertise in corporate strategy and governance that would prove valuable in her later business career.

Sweet has spoken publicly about the decision to leave a successful partnership at Cravath, noting that the transition from law to business required a willingness to take risks and embrace uncertainty. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, she discussed the challenges of learning to let go of the control and precision that characterized legal work in order to adapt to the broader, more ambiguous demands of corporate leadership.

Joining Accenture

Sweet joined Accenture in 2010 as general counsel, bringing her legal expertise to the multinational professional services firm. The move from a top-tier law firm to an in-house corporate role represented a significant career pivot. At Accenture, she quickly expanded her responsibilities beyond the legal function. Her ability to navigate complex corporate matters and her strategic thinking drew the attention of senior leadership, and she was given progressively larger roles within the organization.

In 2015, Sweet was appointed CEO of Accenture's North America business, one of the company's largest and most important operating units. In this role, she oversaw approximately 50,000 employees and was responsible for a significant portion of the company's global revenue. Her leadership of the North America unit was marked by a focus on digital transformation, cloud computing, and the integration of new technology capabilities into Accenture's consulting and services offerings.

Her tenure leading the North America business was viewed as a proving ground for the eventual CEO role. During this period, Sweet also became increasingly involved in Accenture's global strategy, particularly around workforce diversity and inclusion initiatives. Under her leadership, Accenture North America pursued aggressive diversity targets and implemented programs aimed at increasing the representation of women and minorities at all levels of the organization.

Appointment as CEO

On July 11, 2019, Accenture announced that Sweet would succeed David Rowland as the company's chief executive officer, effective September 1, 2019. The appointment made her the first woman to serve as CEO in the company's history. The announcement was covered extensively in major business publications, with outlets noting the significance of a woman leading one of the world's largest professional services firms.

The New York Times reported on Sweet's appointment, highlighting her unusual career path from elite corporate law to the top of a global consulting and technology firm. The Financial Times also profiled Sweet upon her appointment, examining her leadership style and vision for the company. Fortune noted that Sweet's appointment was significant in the context of female representation at the top of major global corporations, reporting that at the time, women led only 2.8 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies.

The Washington Business Journal reported that Sweet was based in Accenture's Arlington, Virginia offices at the time of her appointment. Nasdaq reported on the appointment as well, noting its implications for the company's strategic direction.

Sweet also assumed the role of chair of the board, making her chair and CEO of Accenture.

Leadership at Accenture

As CEO, Sweet has overseen a period of significant growth and transformation at Accenture. The company's strategy under her leadership has emphasized digital transformation, cloud migration, cybersecurity, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence as core pillars of its service offerings.

Digital Acceleration and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sweet led Accenture through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that accelerated demand for digital transformation services as companies worldwide sought to adapt to remote work, e-commerce, and cloud-based operations. In a March 2021 event hosted by The Washington Post, Sweet discussed how the pandemic had compressed years of digital transformation into months, creating both challenges and opportunities for Accenture and its clients.

During this period, Accenture invested heavily in cloud services partnerships and acquisitions, positioning itself as one of the largest providers of cloud transformation consulting in the world. Sweet's strategy focused on helping clients not just adopt new technologies but fundamentally reinvent their business processes and operating models.

Artificial Intelligence Strategy

Under Sweet's leadership, Accenture has made artificial intelligence a central element of its corporate strategy. Sweet has been a prominent public advocate for the adoption of AI across industries, speaking frequently at major global forums about the transformative potential of the technology.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, Sweet argued that AI adoption must be "human-centric," emphasizing that the technology should be deployed in ways that augment human capabilities rather than simply replace workers. Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February 2026, Sweet stated that AI would "drive growth, not kill IT jobs," arguing that workforce reinvention and continuous learning would unlock the next phase of economic growth powered by artificial intelligence.

Sweet has also pushed for AI adoption within Accenture itself. In early 2026, reports emerged that Accenture had begun tying employee promotion eligibility to the use of AI tools, with senior managers and associate directors reportedly told that demonstrating proficiency with AI-powered tools would be a requirement for advancement to leadership roles. The Guardian reported that the consulting firm was monitoring AI tool adoption across its workforce, part of a broader effort to increase the uptake of the technology internally.

Sweet has advised other CEOs to adopt a similar approach to AI integration. In a statement reported in early 2026, she encouraged business leaders to set a three-year goal of being able to say that their company had fully embedded AI across its operations.

In February 2026, Sweet disclosed that she had personally met with approximately 30 global CEOs over a two-month period, and that nearly all of them were focused on accelerating AI deployment within their organizations. This came as Accenture posted $17.7 billion in quarterly revenue.

Navigating Economic and Geopolitical Uncertainty

Sweet has also addressed the impact of geopolitical developments on business, including the effects of tariff policies under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. In early 2026, she shared insights on how CEOs were navigating what she described as a "challenging and uncertain environment," while maintaining that companies needed to continue investing in transformation despite macroeconomic headwinds.

Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

Sweet has been a prominent advocate for diversity and inclusion in the corporate world. Prior to becoming CEO, while leading Accenture's North America business, she championed efforts to increase workforce diversity. Accenture under her leadership has been recognized for its diversity practices, including being named among the companies best encouraging diversity by USA Today.

In a 2019 interview, Sweet discussed her involvement with the CEO Initiative, a collaboration among business leaders focused on addressing societal challenges, including workforce diversity and economic inclusion.

Personal Life

Julie Spellman married Chad Sweet in October 2004. The wedding was reported in The New York Times wedding announcements section. The couple has two children.

Sweet has been based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with Accenture's offices in Arlington, Virginia serving as her primary office at the time of her CEO appointment.

Recognition

Sweet has received significant recognition for her leadership. She has been named to Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women list, a ranking of the most influential female leaders in business. The recognition placed her among the most prominent female executives in the world.

Her appointment as CEO of Accenture was itself a milestone, as it made her the first female CEO in the company's history at a time when female representation at the top of Fortune Global 500 companies stood at just 2.8 percent.

Sweet has been a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she has discussed topics including AI strategy, digital transformation, and the future of work. Her public appearances at major global forums have contributed to her profile as one of the most visible CEOs in the professional services industry.

Profiles of Sweet have appeared in major publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Fortune, and Business Insider, among others.

Legacy

As chair and CEO of Accenture, Sweet leads one of the largest professional services companies in the world by revenue and headcount. Her career trajectory — from partner at one of the most elite law firms in the United States to the top executive role at a Fortune Global 500 company — represents an unusual path in the corporate world and has been cited in business media as an example of the value of cross-disciplinary career transitions.

Sweet's emphasis on AI as a transformative business force has positioned Accenture at the center of the global conversation about artificial intelligence adoption. Her approach — advocating for human-centric AI deployment, tying internal promotions to AI proficiency, and advising other CEOs to set ambitious AI integration timelines — has made her one of the most vocal corporate leaders on the subject.

Her appointment as the first female CEO of Accenture, and her subsequent elevation to chair and CEO, has also been significant in the broader context of female representation in corporate leadership. At a time when fewer than three percent of Fortune Global 500 companies were led by women, Sweet's ascent to the top of a company with hundreds of thousands of employees was noted as a meaningful development in the slow progress toward gender parity in the executive suite.