Margaret C. Whitman, (born August 4, 1956) has been the President and CEO of the online marketplace eBay since March 1998. She joined eBay when the company had 30 employees and operated solely in the United States; eBay is now a global organization with over 9,000 employees. In addition to managing eBay, she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Procter & Gamble and Dreamworks SKG.She grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. After high school she attended Princeton University, where she earned a degree in economics in 1977. She completed her education with an MBA from Harvard Business School.
She began her career working at Procter & Gamble from 1979 to 1981, when she built her experience in brand management. She then spent eight years working for the consulting firm Bain and Company, eventually becoming a vice-president.
From 1989 to 1992, she was at the Walt Disney Company, where she ended up as the Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Disney Consumer Products Division. She then served as President of the Stride Rite Corporation’s Stride Rite Division.
From 1995 to 1997, she was President and CEO of Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD), but left to become the General Manager of Hasbro Inc.’s Preschool Division.
In 2005, she was interviewed by Disney’s board of directors to succeed Michael Eisner as CEO, but dropped out a week later, prompting the board to give the job to Robert Iger.
She donated a significant sum of money to Princeton University, said to have totalled more than $30 million. Her large contributions have allowed the construction of the university’s sixth residential college (to be named Whitman College), scheduled to open its doors in fall 2007.
Source: Meg Whitman. (2006, July 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:22, August 14, 2006.
