Meg Whitman
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Margaret C. Whitman, also known as Meg Whitman, (born August 4, 1956) has been the President and CEO of the online auction company eBay since March 1998. She is known as one of the most influential and successful American businesswomen of her time.
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 $60 million. Her large contributions have allowed the construction of the 6th residential college which will be named Whitman College.
She is married to Griffith R. Harsh IV, who is a neurosurgeon at Stanford University. They have two sons.