Sandra Lerner

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Sandra "Sandy" Lerner is, along with then-husband Leonard Bosack, a co-founder of Cisco Systems. After leaving Cisco, she was a founder of Urban Decay Cosmetics, and an advocate of animal rights.

She received her bachelor's degree in 1975 in political science from California State University, Chico, a master's degree in econometrics in 1977 from the Claremont Graduate School, and a master's degree in statistics and computer science in 1981 from Stanford University.

In 1984, Sandy Lerner cofounded Cisco Systems with her then-boyfriend, and later ex-husband, Len Bosack while working as Director of Computer Facilities for the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

It is widely reported that Lerner and Bosack designed the first router so that they could connect the incompatible computer systems of the Stanford offices they were working in so that they could send romantic love letters to each other. However, this was a manufactured corporate legend [1][2]. In fact, both systems (SU-SCORE and SU-GSB) were TOPS-20 systems. The problem was not that the systems were incompatible (obviously, being the same, they weren't) but that the SU-GSB system was not on any network.

Lerner and Bosack brought in John Morgridge to be the first CEO of Cisco. Later, Lerner was fired; upon hearing the news, Bosack resigned to show his support for her. The two sold all of their founder's stock and retired from Cisco. Lerner used her stock earnings to found a new cosmetics company called Urban Decay Cosmetics, with the tag line "does pink make you puke?" She was the first person to ever pose nude (pictured) for a financial magazine (Forbes 1997)

Lerner is now involved in a number of high-tech and philanthropic activities. She invested money into the restoration of the Jane Austen family dwelling Chawton Cottage, making it a center for the study of English women's writing.

Lerner has also received honorary doctorates from Washington and Jefferson University and the University of Southampton in England