Julie Sweet
Born1966 or 1967 (age 57–58)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
OccupationCEO of Accenture
Board member of
  • Business Roundtable
  • Catalyst
  • TechNet Executive Council
  • Canada-United States Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders
[2]

Julie Sweet is an American business executive. She is chief executive officer of Accenture, a multinational professional services company. According to The New York Times, she is "one of the most powerful women in corporate America."[3] She was named to Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" list from 2016 through 2019.[2][4]

Early life and education

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Sweet grew up in Tustin, California.[3] She holds a bachelor's degree from Claremont McKenna College[5] and a law degree from Columbia Law School.[6]

Career

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Prior to Sweet's work at Accenture, she was an attorney at law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.[6][7] She worked at the firm for 17 years and was partner for 10.[8][9] Sweet was the ninth woman ever to make partner at the firm.[6] She worked on financing, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate counsel.[10]

Accenture recruited Sweet as general counsel in 2010.[6] In 2015, she became CEO of Accenture's North America business, the company's largest market.[6] 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.[11]

Accenture named Sweet its CEO effective September 2019, the first woman to hold that position.[12][13] She replaced interim CEO David Rowland.[13] At the time of her appointment, she was one of 27 women leading companies in the S&P 500[6] and the 15th female CEO of all Fortune Global 500 companies.[14]

Sweet has advocated for diversity, inclusion,[6] and workplace gender parity.[13] 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.[15] Sweet was named a top CEO for diversity by the website Comparably in 2019.[16] Sweet has called for addressing the skills gap in the U.S. and supported the national apprenticeship movement.[17] She participated in The New York Times's New Rules Summit.[3]

In addition to her work at Accenture, Sweet served on the boards for Catalyst, a non-profit, and TechNet Executive Council, a network that promotes growth, as of 2019.[13]

The New York Times called Sweet "one of the most powerful women in corporate America" in 2019.[3] Fortune listed her as one of the "Most Powerful Women" in 2016, 2017, 2018,[9] and 2019; in 2019, she ranked No. 9.[4]

Personal life

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Sweet is married. She has two daughters.[9][18]

References

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  1. ^ "Form 10-K". Securities and Exchange Commission. October 29, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Julie Sweet". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Gelles, David. "Julie Sweet of Accenture Could See Her Future. So She Quit Her Job". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b McCoy, Daniel; Lambert, Ryan (September 24, 2019). "Microsoft, Boeing execs land on Fortune list of most powerful women". Biz Women. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  5. ^ Maake, Katishi. "Accenture taps Arlington-based Julie Sweet as global chief executive". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Gelles, David. "Julie Sweet to Run Accenture, Adding a Woman to the Ranks of Corporate C.E.O.s". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Accenture Taps Ex-Cravath Partner As New CEO". Law360. July 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  8. ^ Abadi, Mark (January 4, 2019). "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 8 October 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Horswill, Ian (July 12, 2019). "Julie Sweet named first female CEO of Accenture". CEO Magazine. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  10. ^ "Accenture names Julie Sweet chief executive officer". Consulting.us. July 15, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  11. ^ Prang, Allison. "Accenture Picks Julie Sweet as Chief Executive". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Accenture names Julie Sweet as CEO". Reuters. July 11, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c d Aliaj, Ortenca. "Accenture promotes North America boss to global CEO". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  14. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma (July 22, 2019). "Women Lead Only 2.8% of Fortune Global 500 Companies". Fortune. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  15. ^ Dantes, Damanick (January 8, 2019). "Accenture CEO: Diversity and Inclusion Start From Within". Fortune. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  16. ^ Brown, Dalvin (June 25, 2019). "Who are the best CEOs for minority workers? Heads of Intuit, T-Mobile, Google rank high". USA Today. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  17. ^ Murray, Alan (July 11, 2019). "Accenture Names a New CEO: Julie Sweet". Fortune. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  18. ^ "Julie Sweet". Working Mother. November 11, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
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Category:Accenture people Category:American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies Category:1960s births Category:Living people