Anne Chow ’88, M.Eng. ’89, MBA ’90, chief executive officer of AT&T Business, gave the inaugural Mei-Wei ’72 and Amy Cheng Distinguished Lecture in Technology to a virtual audience of Cornellians on March 25.
Chow, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell’s College of Engineering and her MBA from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, spoke about “leading as a lifelong learner.”
Chow was appointed CEO of AT&T Business in 2019. She is the first woman to hold this position and the first CEO in AT&T’s history to be a woman of color. Chow is responsible for a $36 billion operating unit, which serves nearly three million business customers around the world, providing them with fiber- and mobile-based communications solutions.
Chow has led several global organizations through major transformations, developing and executing innovative growth strategies while building role-model relationships. She’s passionate about education, diversity and inclusion, advancing women in technology and cultivating next-generation leaders.
Chow is co-author of “The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams,” and serves on the FranklinCovey Company Board of Directors, Dallas Mavericks Advisory Council, the Committee of 100 leadership organization of prominent Chinese Americans, and the President’s Advisory Board at Georgia Tech.
Among her awards and honors, Chow received a Gold Stevie award for Female Executive of the Year - Business Services, was named to the “Future 50” list of north Texas innovators by Dallas Innovates, and was named “Woman of the Year in Technology” by the National Diversity Council. Most recently, Chow was named to Fortune’s “2020 Most Powerful Women in Business” list and D CEO magazine’s “2021 Dallas 500” list of most influential leaders.
The annual Cheng Distinguished Lecture in Technology was established by Mei-Wei and Amy Cheng to give CEOs and other business leaders the chance to share their perspectives on technology and research with Cornell faculty, students and the greater community.