Ellen M. Hancock

Ellen Hancock

Ellen M. Hancock, GSAS ’67

Ellen M. Hancock, GSAS ’67, served as the president of Jazz Technologies Inc., and as president and chief operating officer of its predecessor, Acquicor Technology Inc., from August 2005 to June 2007. Prior to its merger with the wafer foundry Jazz Semiconductor Inc. in February 2007, Acquicor was a blank check company formed for the purpose of acquiring businesses in the technology, multimedia, and networking sector.

Ellen is also the former chairman and CEO of Exodus Communications, a leader in complex internet hosting and managed services. She joined Exodus in March 1998 and served as chair from June 2000 to September 2001, as CEO from September 1998 to September 2001, and as president from March 1998 to June 2000.

Ellen was with IBM for 29 years, serving in various staff and line executive positions. She was appointed an IBM vice president in 1985 and senior vice president in 1992. Her last position was as the senior vice president and group executive responsible for the networking hardware division, the networking software division, and the software solutions division. She was also a member of the IBM Corporate Executive Committee and the IBM Worldwide Management Council.

Following her time at IBM, Ellen joined National Semiconductor in 1995 as an executive vice president and COO in the office of the president reporting to the CEO, where she was responsible for the company’s technology, applications, and product development.

In 1996, Ellen served as Apple Computer’s executive vice president for R&D and its chief technology officer. She was responsible for research, quality assurance, operating system development, multimedia and networking software development, and overall technical strategy. 

Ellen has been a member of the boards of directors of Colgate-Palmolive, Aetna, WatchGuard, Jazz, and Electronic Data Systems. She is on the board of trustees of Marist College, RAND Corporation, the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies, and Springboard Enterprises. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of C200, a women’s executive leadership organization.

She is a graduate of the mathematics program at the College of New Rochelle, holds a Master of Arts in mathematics from Fordham University, and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from both the State University of Western Connecticut and the College of New Rochelle.