Rochester Business Journal

Xerox Corp. CEO Ursula Burns and Eastman Kodak Co. CEO Antonio Perez have been named to lead a national educational program by President Barack Obama. The program is aimed at honing students’ skills in science, technology, engineering and math.

The project will be led by Burns; Craig Barrett, former CEO and chairman of Intel Corp.; Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable; and Sally Ride, former astronaut and president and chief operating officer of Sally Ride Science, in conjunction with the Carnegie Corp. of New York and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

The program will explore how new technologies, social networks and other resources can be used to connect teachers with professionals and companies and improve student performance in science, technology, engineering and math education, officials said.    

"Companies like Xerox succeed through innovation, collaboration and the fresh ideas of our people,” Burns said in a statement. “If we inspire young people today, we secure our ability to innovate tomorrow.”

Burns is a mechanical engineer who joined Xerox as student intern nearly 30 years ago and progressed through the company in a variety of engineering, product development and management roles. She was named president of Xerox in 2007 and became CEO July 1.

In other Xerox news, the company, along with Texas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., announced it had settled a consolidated lawsuit filed by ACS shareholders in Texas.

Xerox announced earlier this year it was buying ACS in a $6.4 billion cash and stock deal. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter.

The agreement states the plaintiffs have withdrawn their motion for an injunction blocking the takeover, while Xerox has agreed it will end its offer if the ACS board gets a better deal.

Also, Xerox would not require ACS chairman Darwin Deason to vote his shares in favor of Xerox. Deason controls 44 percent of the votes at ACS.

A separate class action lawsuit by ACS shareholders regarding the sale is pending in Delaware.

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