Carol Bartz

Carol Bartz
Bartz at her first Yahoo! all hands meeting (2009)
Carol Bartz
Born	Carol Ann Bartz 28 8, 1948
Birthplace	Winona, Minnesota, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive
Known for	Former CEO of Yahoo!, former CEO of Autodesk
Awards	Forbes Power Women list (2011)

Carol Ann Bartz (born August 28, 1948) is an American business executive who served as president and chief executive officer of the internet services company Yahoo! from January 2009 until September 2011, and as chairman, president, and CEO of Autodesk, the architectural and engineering design software company, for more than a decade before that. Born in Winona, Minnesota, Bartz rose through the ranks of the technology industry during an era when few women held senior leadership positions in Silicon Valley. Her career has spanned roles at major technology firms including Sun Microsystems, 3M, and Digital Equipment Corporation, before she took the helm at Autodesk in 1992 and subsequently at Yahoo!. Known in the technology industry for her direct, no-nonsense management style and candid public commentary, Bartz has also served on the boards of directors of several prominent corporations, including Cisco Systems and Intel. In 2011, Forbes ranked her number 37 on its list of the world's most powerful women.

Early Life

Carol Ann Bartz was born on August 28, 1948, in Winona, Minnesota, a small city situated along the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. Her early life was shaped by hardship and family upheaval. Bartz has spoken publicly about the challenges of her upbringing, including the loss of her mother at a young age, which forced her and her siblings to be raised by their grandmother on a farm in Wisconsin.

Growing up in a rural midwestern environment, Bartz developed what she later described as a practical, straightforward approach to problem-solving that would characterize her management style throughout her career. Her grandmother's influence instilled in her values of hard work, resilience, and self-reliance. Bartz has recounted that the experience of being raised in modest circumstances on a farm gave her an appreciation for directness and an intolerance for pretense — qualities that would later distinguish her among Silicon Valley executives.

The loss of her mother and the difficult circumstances of her childhood became formative experiences that Bartz referenced throughout her professional life when discussing leadership, adversity, and personal growth. She has credited these early experiences with giving her the toughness necessary to navigate the male-dominated technology industry and to lead major corporations through periods of transition and uncertainty.

Education

Bartz attended William Woods University, a private university in Fulton, Missouri, before transferring to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she earned a degree in computer science. Her education at the University of Wisconsin provided her with the technical foundation that would underpin her career in the technology sector. At the time Bartz was pursuing her degree, computer science was a relatively new academic discipline, and women were a small minority in the field.

Her academic background in computer science distinguished her from many corporate leaders who came from business or finance backgrounds, giving her a technical fluency that informed her decision-making at technology companies throughout her career.

Career

Early Career

Before assuming executive roles, Bartz built her career through a series of positions at prominent technology companies. She worked at 3M and Digital Equipment Corporation, gaining experience in sales, marketing, and management within the technology sector. These roles provided her with broad exposure to different facets of the technology business, from product development to enterprise sales.

Bartz subsequently joined Sun Microsystems, the Silicon Valley hardware and software company, where she held senior positions. Her tenure at Sun Microsystems was instrumental in establishing her reputation within the technology industry and positioning her for the CEO role at Autodesk.

Autodesk (1992–2006)

In 1992, Bartz was appointed chairman, president, and CEO of Autodesk, the San Rafael, California-based company known for its AutoCAD design software used by architects, engineers, and construction professionals worldwide. When she took the helm, Autodesk was a company in need of strategic direction and operational discipline. Over the course of her tenure, which lasted more than fourteen years, Bartz transformed the company into a more focused and profitable enterprise.

Under Bartz's leadership, Autodesk's annual revenue grew substantially, and the company expanded its product portfolio and global reach. She oversaw the company's transition through significant changes in the software industry, including the shift from standalone desktop applications to more integrated software suites and the early stages of internet-enabled software delivery. Bartz was credited with professionalizing Autodesk's operations and instilling a more disciplined corporate culture.

Her long and generally well-regarded tenure at Autodesk established Bartz as one of the most prominent female executives in the technology industry. During her time as CEO, she became a sought-after figure for corporate boards and a frequent speaker on topics related to technology leadership and management.

Bartz stepped down as CEO of Autodesk in 2006, transitioning out of the role she had held since 1992. Her departure was planned, and she remained active in the technology industry through board memberships and advisory roles.

Appointment as Yahoo! CEO (2009)

On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! announced that Carol Bartz had been named the company's new chief executive officer, succeeding co-founder Jerry Yang, who had stepped down amid criticism of his handling of Microsoft's takeover bid for the company. The appointment came at a critical juncture for Yahoo!, which was struggling to compete with Google in search advertising and facing questions about its strategic direction and corporate identity.

The Economist reported on the appointment, noting that Bartz brought a reputation for operational efficiency and straight-talking management to a company that had been perceived as drifting strategically. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also covered the announcement, noting Bartz's Wisconsin roots and her rise through the technology industry.

In her first week at Yahoo!, Bartz sent a memo to all employees outlining her priorities and management philosophy. The memo, which was later published by technology journalist Kara Swisher, reflected Bartz's characteristically direct communication style and her desire to bring clarity and focus to the organization.

Bartz's compensation package at Yahoo! included a $1 million annual salary and a $2 million signing bonus, along with stock-based compensation, as reported by Business Insider.

Tenure at Yahoo! (2009–2011)

During her approximately two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO, Bartz undertook a reorganization of Yahoo!'s corporate structure, which had been criticized as unwieldy and siloed. She attempted to streamline the company's operations and refocus its strategy around core properties and services. Bartz also oversaw a search partnership deal with Microsoft, under which Yahoo! outsourced its search technology to Microsoft's Bing search engine in exchange for a share of search advertising revenue.

However, Yahoo! continued to face significant challenges during Bartz's tenure. The company's share of the online advertising market continued to erode in the face of competition from Google, and its search market share declined. Critics argued that while Bartz had brought operational improvements, she had not articulated a compelling vision for Yahoo!'s future or addressed the fundamental question of what Yahoo! was as a company — whether it was a media company, a technology company, or something else entirely.

Yahoo!'s web traffic, a key metric for an internet company, also remained a concern during this period. The company's global ranking and user engagement metrics were closely watched by analysts and investors as indicators of whether Bartz's strategy was working.

The research firm Glass Lewis included Bartz on its list of the most overpaid executives, drawing attention to the gap between her compensation and the company's stock performance under her leadership.

Dismissal from Yahoo! (2011)

On September 6, 2011, Yahoo!'s board of directors terminated Bartz as CEO. The news was first reported by Kara Swisher of AllThingsD, who noted that Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse had been named interim CEO while the board conducted a search for a permanent replacement.

The manner of Bartz's dismissal became a notable event in the technology industry. She was informed of her termination by telephone, a fact she made public and expressed frustration about. Bartz subsequently sent a candid email to the entire Yahoo! workforce informing them of her firing. The email, in which she stated plainly that she had been "fired over the phone," was widely reported in the media and became emblematic of her direct communication style.

Forbes reported that Bartz's firing reflected the board's conclusion that Yahoo! needed a leader who could develop a more transformative strategy for the company. The publication noted that while Bartz had made some operational improvements, the company's core business had continued to deteriorate during her tenure, and she had not succeeded in reversing the fundamental competitive challenges facing the company.

The Drum reported that Bartz had been expected to be "the woman exec who blew the cobwebs away and got the internet pioneer humming again," but that after approximately 30 months, the board concluded that the company's turnaround had not materialized.

Post-Yahoo! Career

Following her departure from Yahoo!, Bartz remained active in the business community through corporate board service, advisory roles, and public speaking engagements. She served on the board of directors of Cisco Systems, one of the world's largest networking and telecommunications companies.

Bartz also joined the board of directors of PlanGrid, a construction productivity software company, bringing her experience from leading Autodesk, which served a similar market of architects, engineers, and construction professionals.

In interviews and public appearances after leaving Yahoo!, Bartz continued to speak candidly about leadership, management, and her experiences in the technology industry. In a 2012 interview with Knowledge at Wharton, she discussed lessons about dealing with difficult bosses, the importance of choosing battles carefully in corporate environments, and the value of admitting when one does not have the answer to a question. She emphasized that executives who refuse to acknowledge uncertainty undermine their own credibility.

In a 2018 interview with CNBC, Bartz discussed her views on corporate leadership, offering three reasons why she believed most CEOs were "boring." She argued that corporate leaders too often relied on scripted communication, avoided taking risks in their public statements, and failed to show authentic personality, all of which she said harmed employee engagement and organizational culture.

In 2019, Bartz shared advice with entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry at a Forbes-covered event, drawing on her decades of experience in the technology sector. She emphasized the importance of resilience and willingness to fail quickly and move forward, advice she framed as applicable across industries and business stages.

Personal Life

Bartz has been relatively private about her personal life, though certain details have become publicly known through interviews and media profiles. She is a breast cancer survivor, a fact she has discussed publicly in the context of leadership and resilience. Fortune magazine included her in a profile noting unusual facts about the women on its Most Powerful Women list, referencing her personal history and her direct, sometimes colorful, manner of speaking.

Bartz grew up in the Midwest and has maintained connections to her roots in Wisconsin and Minnesota throughout her career, even after establishing herself in California's Silicon Valley. Her upbringing on her grandmother's farm after her mother's death has been a recurring theme in her public discussions of her background and the values that shaped her leadership approach.

Recognition

During her career, Bartz received recognition from multiple business and media organizations. In 2011, Forbes ranked her number 37 on its annual list of the world's most powerful women, reflecting her position as CEO of Yahoo! and her broader influence in the technology industry.

She was also included in Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women rankings during her tenures at both Autodesk and Yahoo!. Her appearances on these lists reflected her status as one of the few women leading major technology companies during the late 1990s and 2000s.

Bartz's profile has been included in Who's Who in America, the reference publication cataloging notable Americans.

Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner (eCorner) featured Bartz in its series of discussions with technology leaders, reflecting her standing in the entrepreneurial and technology community.

Legacy

Carol Bartz's career is notable for several reasons within the context of the American technology industry. As one of the few women to serve as CEO of a major technology company during the 1990s and 2000s, her leadership of Autodesk and Yahoo! placed her among a small group of female executives at the highest levels of Silicon Valley. Her fourteen-year tenure at Autodesk, during which she built the company into a more disciplined and profitable organization, is generally regarded as the more successful of her two CEO tenures.

Her time at Yahoo! was more contentious. While she brought operational discipline and reorganized the company's structure, she was unable to resolve the larger strategic questions that plagued Yahoo! during a period of intense competition in the internet industry. Her dismissal by phone, and her candid public response to it, became one of the more memorable episodes in Silicon Valley corporate history and reinforced her reputation for blunt honesty.

In her post-CEO career, Bartz has continued to contribute to public discourse on leadership, corporate governance, and the challenges facing women in technology. Her emphasis on authenticity, directness, and willingness to admit uncertainty has influenced conversations about corporate leadership style, particularly in contrast to the more polished and scripted approach common among many public company executives.