Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina is an American businessperson and political candidate. As the CEO of HP from 1999 to 2005, she was the first woman to lead a Top-20 company as ranked by Fortune Magazine. In her role, she laid off 30,000 U.S. employees, which is said to revive the company. However, she was fired as the Chairman and CEO after a boardroom disagreement in February 2005.In politics, she was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. In 2010, she won the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in California, but lost the general election to Barbara Boxer.Fiorina was a major candidate in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, and was briefly the vice-presidential running mate of Ted Cruz, until he suspended his campaign for President on May 3.