Carly Fiorina

Who is Carly Fiorina?

Carly Fiorina is an American former business executive and was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate from California in 2010. Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff, Lucent.

Fiorina was considered one of the most powerful women in business during her tenure at Lucent and Hewlett-Packard. While she was chief executive at HP, the company weathered the collapse of the dot-com bubble, although the stock lost half of its value throughout her tenure. In 2002, the company completed a contentious merger with rival computer company Compaq, which made HP the world's largest personal computer manufacturer. In 2005, Fiorina was forced to resign as chief executive officer and chairman of HP following "differences [with the board of directors] about how to execute HP's strategy."

In 2008, Fiorina served as an advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain. In 2010, Fiorina waged an unsuccessful challenge against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer of California in a 2010 Senate election.