AT&T Business names Anne Chow 1st female CEO

AT&T Business has named longtime employee Anne Chow CEO, making her the first woman to hold that position.

Chow, who's been with AT&T Business for nearly 30 years, was one of the first Asian American officers at the company and is now the highest ranking Asian American at AT&T, male or female.

“This is an exciting time at AT&T, and in AT&T Business, as we have a unique opportunity to provide our customers with the innovative solutions they need to better run their businesses and serve their customers," Chow told ABC News in a statement. "With breakthrough technologies like 5G, businesses around the world will be poised to transform and disrupt their own industries. I look forward to this journey with an incredible team of women and men.”

The newly named CEO tweeted a photo of her desk with cards and bouquets of flowers, expressing her gratitude with a quote from the late motivational speaker and businessman Zig Zigler.

"In her nearly 30 years in the industry, she strove to 'break the bamboo ceiling' by succeeding in non-traditional roles that spanned direct and indirect sales, to operations, to P&L management," AT&T Business said in a statement. "She created one of AT&T's fastest growing Employee Networks -- AT&T Women of Business -- which has 4,800 members across 27 countries."

Chow has held leadership positions in engineering, direct and indirect sales, sales operations, marketing, customer care, international operations, product management, and strategic planning.

In her new role, Chow will be responsible for an organization that serves nearly 3 million business customers in more than 200 countries and territories.

"As a founding member of AT&T University's governing board, Anne actively supports the company's leadership development imperative," the company continued. "Anne also serves on the National Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of the USA, is a member of the Committee of 100, Co-Chairs the Parents Board at Georgia Tech, and sits on the Board of the Directors of Franklin Covey Co (NYSE: FC)."

AT&T Business said Chow "has acted as a role model for diversity and inclusion, she co-championed the recently launched Women of Color initiative, which focuses on promoting an inclusive and thriving environment for this critical, rapidly growing community."

Chow earned her BS and MEng degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University before earning an MBA with distinction from The Johnson School at Cornell University.