Burns’ appointment is effective immediately, according to a company statement. She’s not a stranger to Teneo, having served as a senior adviser to the company since 2017. She has also been a client of the firm.
“As chairwoman, I intend to focus on advising and growing Teneo’s clients, as well as continuing to build a world-class firm culture,” Burns said in the statement.
Her appointment comes a week after Declan Kelly resigned as chairman and CEO. He announced last month that he made an “inadvertent, public and embarrassing mistake” at a party in early May.
The Wall Street Journal said that Kelly was “behaving inappropriately” at a party and reportedly “touched women without their consent.”
Kelly’s actions led to him being removed from the board on May 3 and
General Motors (GM) dropping Teneo as an adviser, the newspaper said. Soon after, Teneo named Paul Keary CEO.
Burns was the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she was the head of Xerox. She has been
outspoken about companies making excuses for failing to hire more black executives.