Colonel William A. Phillips

Julie Terese Sweet (née Spellman, born 1966/1967)[1][2] is an American business executive and attorney. She is chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of Accenture, a multinational professional services company.[3]

The New York Times and Fortune have named her among the most powerful women in corporate America, crediting her for "working on creating true gender equality at the office".[4][5][6]

Early life and education

Sweet grew up in Tustin, California,[4] and was a speech and debate star at Tustin High School.[7] She holds a bachelor's degree from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School.[8]

Career

Prior to Sweet's work at Accenture, she was an attorney at law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.[9][10] She worked at the firm for 17 years and was partner for 10.[11][12] Sweet was the ninth woman ever to make partner at the firm.[9] She worked on financing, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate counsel.[13]

Accenture recruited Sweet as general counsel in 2010.[9] In 2015, she became CEO of Accenture's North America business, the company's largest market.[9] Since early in her career at Accenture, she served on the company's global management committee. Alongside then-CEO Pierre Nanterme, Sweet developed Accenture's mergers and acquisitions strategy.[14]

Accenture named Sweet its CEO effective September 2019, the first woman to hold that position.[15][16] She replaced interim CEO David Rowland.[16] At the time of her appointment, she was one of 27 women leading companies in the S&P 500[9] and the 15th female CEO of all Fortune Global 500 companies.[17][18] In September 2021, Sweet became chair of Accenture.[6]

Sweet has advocated for diversity, inclusion,[9] and workplace gender parity.[16] Sweet supports Accenture's goal to have a staff equally represented by men and women by 2025; as of 2019, 42 percent of Accenture's staff was female.[19] Sweet was named a top CEO for diversity by the website Comparably in 2019.[20] Sweet has called for addressing the skills gap in the U.S. and supported the national apprenticeship movement.[21] She participated in The New York Times's New Rules Summit.[4]

In addition to her work at Accenture, Sweet served on the boards for Catalyst,[22] the World Economic Forum,[23] the Business Roundtable, where she chairs the Technology Committee,[24] the Center for Strategic & International Studies, and the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities – Bridges from School to Work, as of 2022.[25]

The New York Times called Sweet "one of the most powerful women in corporate America" in 2019.[4] Fortune magazine included Julie Sweet in their top 10 “Most Powerful Women” list since 2016 and she was named No. 1 on the list for 2020.[26] Fortune noted Julie “steered Accenture’s more than half a million employees in 51 countries through the pandemic, a crisis that has made the company’s skills more essential than ever.” Julie Sweet has subsequently been ranked by Fortune magazine as No. 3 on the list for 2021[27] and No. 2 on the list for 2022.[28] In 2024, the Anti-Defamation League gave Sweet its 2024 Courage Against Hate Award.[29] In 2024, Sweet announced Accenture's plans to open 10 generative AI 'innovation hubs' around the world.[30]

Personal life

Sweet is married to Chad Creighton Sweet,[1] who was the campaign chairman of Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign. She has two daughters.[12][31] They live in Bethesda, Maryland.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Jaffee, Michelle Koidin (2004-10-10). "Julie Spellman and Chad Sweet". Weddings/Celebrations: Vows. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-07-06. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
  2. ^ a b "Forbes profile: Julie Sweet". Forbes. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  3. ^ Gill, Kristine (2022-04-27). "How the best companies to work for are thriving despite the Great Resignation". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  4. ^ a b c d Gelles, David (2019-01-02). "Julie Sweet of Accenture Could See Her Future. So She Quit Her Job". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-07-06. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  5. ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune. 2020. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  6. ^ a b "Most Powerful Women". Fortune. 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  7. ^ The David Rubinstein Show, "Julie Sweet, Accenture Chair & CEO", S6:E28, 6 October 2021, Bloomberg TV, after 11 minutes 30 seconds.
  8. ^ Maake, Katishi. "Accenture taps Arlington-based Julie Sweet as global chief executive". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Gelles, David (2019-07-11). "Julie Sweet to Run Accenture, Adding a Woman to the Ranks of Corporate C.E.O.s". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  10. ^ "Accenture Taps Ex-Cravath Partner As New CEO". Law360. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  11. ^ Abadi, Mark (2019-01-04). "The CEO of a consulting firm says if 'you can see your future' at work, you may not be in the right career". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  12. ^ a b Horswill, Ian (2019-07-12). "Julie Sweet named first female CEO of Accenture". CEO Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  13. ^ "Accenture names Julie Sweet chief executive officer". Consulting.us. 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  14. ^ Prang, Allison. "Accenture Picks Julie Sweet as Chief Executive". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  15. ^ "Accenture names Julie Sweet as CEO". Reuters. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  16. ^ a b c Aliaj, Ortenca. "Accenture promotes North America boss to global CEO". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  17. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma (2019-07-22). "Women Lead Only 2.8% of Fortune Global 500 Companies". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  18. ^ "Transcript: The Path Forward: Digital Acceleration with Accenture CEO Julie Sweet". Washington Post. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  19. ^ Dantes, Damanick (2019-01-08). "Accenture CEO: Diversity and Inclusion Start From Within". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  20. ^ Brown, Dalvin (2019-06-25). "Who are the best CEOs for minority workers? Heads of Intuit, T-Mobile, Google rank high". USA Today. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  21. ^ Murray, Alan (2019-07-11). "Accenture Names a New CEO: Julie Sweet". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  22. ^ "Board of directors". Catalyst. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  23. ^ "Julie Sweet". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  24. ^ Kahn, Jeremy (2022-01-26). "CEOs of America's biggest companies detail how to achieve 'responsible A.I.'". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  25. ^ "The Path Forward: Digital Acceleration with Accenture CEO Julie Sweet". The Washington Post. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  26. ^ "Julie Sweet | 2020 Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  27. ^ "Julie Sweet | 2021 Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  28. ^ "Julie Sweet | 2022 Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  29. ^ "You are being redirected..." www.adl.org. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  30. ^ "Accenture CEO Julie Sweet Speaks with Bloomberg in Davos". www.bloomberg.com. 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  31. ^ "Julie Sweet". Working Mother. 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2019-10-08.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Sweet