Women in the Workplace: Julie Sweet

This week we will be featuring a prominent and well-accomplished woman in the workplace. 

Who is she?

Julie Sweet was born and raised in Tustin, California.

In 2015, then-Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Julie Sweet, was appointed as the CEO of Accenture-North America, the company’s largest division. She was Accenture’s first female CEO. Four years later, she was then appointed CEO of the company as a whole, and soon assumed the additional role as Chair. Julie began her career at Accenture in 2010 and served as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and then Chief Compliance Officer. 

Julie completed her bachelor's degree in International Relations at Claremont McKenna College and her J.D in at Columbia University. She then joined Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in 1992 where she remained for 14 years. In 2001 she was promoted to partner and co-headed the Hong Kong office which she helped to open as an associate.  

What she has accomplished:

Within her role as CEO, Julie has helped Accenture attain significant revenue growth. Additionally, as part of the company’s Cloud First initiative, Julie has pushed Accenture to raise its bar and create “360-degree client value”; with 39 acquisitions of cloud companies in the recent year, Accenture aims to expand its capabilities and services.  

Furthermore, Julie has been ranked as the #1 most powerful woman in 2020 according to Forbes. She has also been named one of the most powerful women by Fortune for six consecutive years (2016-2021). In addition to that, she has been ranked top CEO for diversity by Comparably in 2019 and is also the recipient of the Excellence in Public Policy Award from CED, the AAPD Catalyst Award, and 2021 Global Leadership Humanitarian Award .

A bit more about her: 

Julie strongly believes that ethics play an important role in a company’s performance and prosperity. She is a leader on topics of innovation, technology’s impact on business, as well as inclusion and diversity. She states that “You cannot be an innovation-led company without diversity around the table,” and that “[Accenture is] unambiguous about the importance of inclusion and diversity to [their] business.” 

Outside of work, Julie is on the board of directors for the Business Roundtable where she chairs its Technology Committee, and she serves on the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees. She chairs the board of Catalyst, a global nonprofit that aims to empower female leaders. Julie also serves on the board of trustees for the Center for Strategic & International Studies and for the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities’ Bridges from School to Work program.

Some notable quotes from Julie include:

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” 

“A culture of equality helps everyone. It is not a zero-sum game.”