Shellye Archambeau

Summary

Shellye Archambeau is an American businesswoman and former CEO of MetricStream, a GRC company based in Palo Alto, California.[3] She has held executive positions for numerous companies, including a 15-year career at IBM where she became the first African American woman at the company to be sent on assignment internationally.[4] Archambeau is a guest lecturer at her alma mater, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[5][6] She is also a writer. She wrote Unapologetically Ambitious[7] and co-authored Marketing That Works. Archambeau is a regular contributor for Xconomy.[6][8]

Shellye L Archambeau
Alma materWharton School of Business[1]
OccupationBusiness executive
EmployerMetricStream
Board member ofVerizon Communications[2]
Arbitron Watermark

Early life and education edit

Archambeau grew up as the oldest of four children.[9] Her parents had four kids in five years, attributing her competitive nature to growing up with siblings so close in age.[9] In grade school, Archambeau was heavily involved in sports, but her growth spurt (being 5'10" by ninth grade) kept her from high school sports, causing her to focus on clubs and organizations.[9] Archambeau attended the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.[1] She worked as a sales assistant for IBM when she was in college, later taking a full-time job in sales after learning that many CEOs had also previously worked in sales.[3]

Career edit

After graduation, Archambeau took a full-time job with IBM where she would eventually have a 15-year career, working her way up the corporate ladder.[1] She stated that one of her goals was to run a company and that she had aspirations of becoming the CEO of IBM, working her way through various positions and later running IBM's Asia Pacific business for the public sector.[1] That assignment made her the first African American woman to be sent on assignment internationally by the company.[4] While at IBM, Archambeau was recruited by Blockbuster where she served as president of the company's e-commerce division.[10] As the leader of a new division, she was responsible for creating Blockbuster's online presence.[1][11] While she was with Blockbuster, she was recognized as one of the Top 25 Click and Mortar Executives by Internet World.[5]

Archambeau joined NorthPoint Communications as part of its executive team during the company's merger with Verizon.[1] Five months into her new career, Verizon pulled out of the merger, causing challenges for the company. Archambeau and the rest of the executive team stayed together until NorthPoint ended up selling its assets to AT&T.[1] During her time there, she was recruited by Andy Rachleff of Benchmark Capital who at the time served on the board of NorthPoint and Loudcloud, Inc.[1] She moved on to become the chief marketing officer at Loudcloud.[12][13] She left the company in 2002 to take her first CEO job.

In 2002, Archambeau joined Zaplet, Inc. as the company's CEO and oversaw it through the merger with MetricStream in 2004.[1] When the two companies merged, she became the CEO of the newly formed company.[14] While CEO of MetricStream, Archambeau was elected to the Board of Arbitron, a position she has held from 2005 through 2013.[15] She also serves on the board of directors for Verizon Communications[16] and Nordstrom Inc.

Awards and recognition edit

In addition to being recognized as one of the Top 25 Click and Mortar Executives by Internet World,[5] Archambeau has received numerous other awards and recognition throughout her career. In 2014 she was named one of the 46 Most Important African-Americans in Technology by the Business Insider, ranking at No. 11.[17] The year prior she was No. 2 on the list of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology.[18] She was also recognized as one of the 50 Most Important African Americans in Technology.[19]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Caldwell, Douglas E. (March 13, 2005). "Managing through the 'glass ceiling'". San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  2. ^ "Verizon Communications Key Executives". The Motley Fool. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Bailey, Brandon (May 3, 2013). "Mercury News interview: Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Kolawole, Emi (February 10, 2012). "MetricStream CEO Shellye Archambeau on America's innovation economy and the art of success". Washington Post. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Next Up At Wharton Publishing – Creating Lasting Success in Marketing". Wharton Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Archambeau, Shellye (2007). Marketing That Works: How Entrepreneurial Marketing Can Add Sustainable Value to Any Sized Company. Pearson Education. ISBN 9780132716321.
  7. ^ Archambeau, Shellye (November 11, 2020). "How Shellye Archambeau, One of Silicon Valley's First Black Female CEOs, Turned Ambition Into Success". Inc.com. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  8. ^ "Shellye Archambeau profile". National Center for Women & Information Technology. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  9. ^ a b c Mehta, Angel. "CEO Spotlight: Shellye Archambeau, MetricStream". Sterling Hoffman. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  10. ^ "Shellye Archambeau". Jet Magazine. 1999.
  11. ^ Swan, Phillip (2000). TV Dot Com: The Future of Interactive Television. The University of Virginia. ISBN 9781575001777.
  12. ^ "Loudcloud to cut its work force by 19 percent". Info World. May 7, 2001.
  13. ^ "NorthPoint lays off employees". San Jose Business Journals. March 30, 2001. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  14. ^ Roberts, Timothy (March 31, 2004). "MetricStream merges with Zaplet". San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  15. ^ Lundy, Tykisha (February 1, 2006). "Abritron Inc. – Shellye Archambeau appointed". Black Enterprise. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  16. ^ "MetricStream CEO Shellye Archambeau Elected to Verizon Board of Directors". Verizon (press release). November 7, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  17. ^ Dickey, Megan Rose (April 27, 2014). "The 46 Most Important African-Americans In Technology". Business Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  18. ^ Dickey, Megan Rose (April 4, 2013). "The 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology". Business Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  19. ^ "Profiling The 50 Most: Shellye Archambeau". 50 Most Important Technology. Retrieved May 15, 2014.

External links edit

  • Shellye Archambeau article in San Jose Business Journal
  • Shellye Archambeau interview with The New York Times
  • Xconomy author profile for Shellye Archambeau