Sandy Lerner

Sandy Lerner
Alma mater	California State University, Chico Claremont Graduate School Stanford University
Known for	Co-Founder of Cisco Systems Co-Founder of Urban Decay
Spouse(s)	Leonard Bosack (divorced)

Sandra "Sandy" Lerner (born 1955) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded Cisco Systems, and used the money from its sale to pursue interests particularly in animal welfare and women's writing. One of her main projects, Chawton House, is in England, but most of her work remains in the United States.

Early life and education

She grew up on a farm in northern California. 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.

Cisco

In 1984, while working as Director of Computer Facilities for the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Lerner co-founded Cisco Systems with her then partner (and now ex-husband) Len Bosack. 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. In fact, both systems (SU-SCORE and SU-GSB) were TOPS-20 systems. The systems were the same and therefore obviously not incompatible, but the SU-GSB system was not on any network. It has also been noted that the original router was designed and created by a group of people at Stanford, both students and faculty, rather than Lerner and Bosack alone.

Lerner and Bosack brought in John Morgridge to be the third CEO of Cisco in 1988. On August 28, 1990, Lerner was fired; upon hearing the news, Bosack resigned to show his support for her. The two sold all of their stock for $170 million and retired from Cisco.

Later projects

Lerner and Bosask divorced in the early 1990s.

Lerner placed a portion of her stock earnings into a start-up venture capital limited partnership called "& Capital Partners." One of the companies it funded was Urban Decay Cosmetics, with the tag line "does pink make you puke?" In February 2000, Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the French luxury goods conglomerate, acquired the firm. It was spun off from LVMH in December 2002.

Lerner early showed her predilection for English architecture by building a home in Los Altos, California for which she imported a 2 1/2 story glass garden tower and created an English rose garden. The house still stands.

Lerner is involved in a number of high-tech and philanthropic activities. In 1992, through the foundation she shares with Leonard Bosack, she invested money into the restoration of Chawton House, the manor house in the English county of Hampshire that had been owned by Jane Austen's brother, Edward Austen Knight. Chawton House opened in 2003 as the Centre for the Study of Early Women's Writing, 1600-1830. The Chawton House Library has a collection of over 9,000 books, mainly related to the literary genre of women's writing, and original manuscripts. The Library works in partnership with the University of Southampton, and provides an important resource for the university's MA in 18th Century Study. Lerner was awarded an honorary doctorate by Southampton in recognition of this work

She started moving to Virginia in 1995. She primarily resides at her 800-acre (3.2 km²) estate, Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, that she acquired in 1996. The circa-1912, 42-room Edwardian mansion of native fieldstone has since been restored and is used for a variety of social functions under Lerner's direction. Ayrshire Farm's mission is to farm sustainably and profitably, promoting the benefits of locally produced, humanely-raised meats and organic produce to the consumer, the community, and children through education, outreach and example. The farm sells its products online and locally from The Home Store in Middleburg, Virginia.

Lerner also owns the Hunter's Head Tavern in Upperville, Virginia.

In November 2011, she published a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice titled Second Impressions using the pen name of Ava Farmer (for "a Virginia farmer"); she plans to make it into a movie.

Lerner was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured (2011). She was also featured in part 2 of the PBS documentary Nerds 2.0.1.

Lerner received honorary doctorates from Washington and Jefferson College, Goucher College, the University of Southampton in England and Shenandoah University.

On 19 November, 2014 Sandy Lerner was presented with the Technology Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Pioneer award at the United Nations.