THE woman who revived Xerox, one of America’s best-known technology corporations, is not one to stand on ceremony. In fact, she’s not one to stand still at all.

“What would you like?” says Anne Mulcahy, agitating over a box of speciality teas in the function room where we meet.

She makes me a cup, pours herself a juice, then leaves her glass untouched for the entire interview. Every time she reaches to take a sip, she whips back her hand so she can keep on explaining. All the while, her foot taps time nervously.

Mulcahy, 56, is a jitterbug of energy, one of the most powerful women in global business, paid $13m (£6.6m) last year, but so friendly and loquacious that it’s easy to forget the scale of what she’s achieved.

She took the top slot at Xerox, once the most famous name in office equipment, when it was teetering close to bankruptcy in 2001. One of her first acts was to drop the dividend. Then she cut the workforce.

Now, rising revenues, a restored dividend, $1 billion in net profit and a new sense of purpose as a service business have put Xerox back on top again. Last year it even brought in the British government as a customer — Xerox heads a consortium that won the £400m, seven-year contract to handle all print and related services for the Department for Work and Pensions.

More than that, though, Mulcahy has altered the feel of her business, appointing women to the key posts of president and research chief at Connecticut-based Xerox. Ursula Burns, her No 2, is African American.

Mulcahy grins. “Look, I get to pick and I pick the best,” she says. “And the most powerful thing for our staff to see is role models.”

Meanwhile Mulcahy, a 32-year Xerox veteran, is pulling plaudits from the same journals that belittled her chances seven years ago. “Yeah, well, outsiders thought I was the last person you would put in to make changes. The press was not very flattering.”

She narrows her eyes with mock menace. “There are people whom we will never forget. . .” Then she whoops with laughter.

American by birth, Irish by roots — her maiden name is Dolan — Mulcahy has a verve that is easy to warm to. Tall and angular, with an even sharper sense of humour, she is a renowned organiser and motivator who has rebuilt Xerox on twin goals of consistency and cash flow.

However, she is also a hard woman to pin down, usually ducking the press and nearly always on the move. We meet outside Dublin, where she has just flown in to host a Xerox conference on sustainability for European customers and staff. It’s a very Mulcahy event, espousing the green cause, while spotting the business opportunities among the doom-laden prognostications.