Fiorina has surgery for breast cancer

04.03.2009
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a prominent supporter of the U.S. Republican Party, had surgery for breast cancer on Monday.

The surgery was successful and Fiorina has an "excellent" chance of making a full recovery, Deborah Bowker, her spokeswoman, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Following 20 years at AT&T and Lucent, Fiorina served as president and CEO of HP from 1999 to 2005. She executed HP's controversial takeover of Compaq and was widely criticized for the move, although some have since judged the deal a success. After disagreements with the board over the acquisition, as well as how to revive HP's flagging business, Fiorina was forced out of the company in 2005.

She was the first and, so far, only woman to head a Fortune 20 company.

After leaving HP she started Carly Fiorina Enterprises, a global economic development organization. She is also the chairwoman of the One Woman Initiative, a project that supports initiatives in Muslim majority countries that seek to empower women politically and economically.

Fiorina has also become involved in politics, with speculation that she might be considering a run for a Senate seat on the Republican ticket in California. She campaigned for Senator John McCain in his bid for the presidency.