Nearly half the women on our
list run huge companies—a record. And all are working hard to transform their
businesses.
By Caroline
Fairchild, Beth Kowitt, Colleen Leahey, and Anne VanderMey, with additional reporting by Michal
Lev-Ram and Patricia Sellers
More CEOs, more industries,
more power, more challenges. That’s the story of Fortune’s 2014 ranking of the
50 Most Powerful Women in Business, which features an all-time record of 24
large-company CEOs in its pages. Our women are leading—and in many cases
pushing through difficult transformations—in heavy industries such as tech,
energy, defense, and autos. Ginni Rometty, No. 1 for the third time running,
continues to retool IBM. No. 2, Mary Barra, must fix General Motors from the
inside out. And Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin and our
fourth-ranked woman, is looking beyond defense for growth. Today eight of our
top 10 MPW lead large industrial, tech, and consumer products companies.
It’s a long way from our original
1998 list, on which, we noted at the time, most members “came from industries
with a premium on creativity,” such as advertising, media, and publishing, with
“no top women at blue-chip firms.” Creativity is still a requirement for
success, of course, but you no longer have to work in a “creative” industry to
advance as a woman. Another common denominator is change: Seven of our top 50
were named to their jobs in the past year, and nine are newcomers to the list.
That suggests more turnover at the upper echelons of business—which, it’s fair
to say, is a very good thing for a whole lot of powerful women. —Jennifer
Reingold
See our Methodology
Top Stories
·
The Most Powerful Women of Asia-Pacific
·
The Most Powerful Women of Europe, the Middle East and Africa
·
Cashing in on power: Fortune's
Most Powerful Women ranked by pay
·
Mary Barra's (unexpected) opportunity
·
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty gets past the
Big Blues
·
Why it takes a crisis to get women in
leadership
1-Ginni Rometty
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Rank
|
1
|
Previous Rank
|
1
|
Age
|
57
|
Title
|
Chairman, CEO, and President
|
Company
|
IBM
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Rometty
three-peats as No. 1, even though IBM’s revenue declined for the second
consecutive year, falling 5% to $99.8 billion in fiscal 2013. But her strategy
of investing in new technologies is showing results : In nonlegacy areas like
mobile and cloud services, revenue rose 69% for each division last year.
Rometty has also signed strategic partnerships, such as a deal with Apple to
provide IBM’s services on the iOS platform. And in October, IBM will move its
newly formed Watson business group to a new building in downtown Manhattan.
Rometty has also pledged to invest $1 billion in the development and
commercialization of the cognitive computing system, another future growth area
for the company.
2-Mary Barra
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Rank
|
2
|
Previous Rank
|
29
|
Age
|
52
|
Title
|
CEO
|
Company
|
General Motors
|
Industry
|
Auto
|
Barra became
the auto industry’s first female CEO in January and promptly faced GM’s largest
vehicle recall ever (29 million so far) from a faulty ignition switch linked to
at least 13 deaths since 2005. She is also tackling GM’s infamous culture.
3-Indra Nooyi
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Rank
|
3
|
Previous Rank
|
2
|
Age
|
58
|
Title
|
Chairman and CEO
|
Company
|
PepsiCo
|
Industry
|
Consumer Products
|
Nooyi’s innovation push is
paying off at PepsiCo, which has increased R&D spending 25% since 2011.
Products launched in the past three years now make up 9% of revenue–which
totaled $66.4 billion in 2013. And of 2013’s 50 bestselling new food and
beverage products in the U.S., nine came from PepsiCo: Starbucks Iced Coffee,
Muller Quaker Yogurt, and Mountain Dew Kickstart, to name a few. In July the
company raised its profit growth forecast for the year, which should help Nooyi
counter calls by activist investor Nelson Peltz to break up the food and
beverage giant.
4-Marillyn
Hewson
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Rank
|
4
|
Previous Rank
|
4
|
Age
|
60
|
Title
|
Chairman, CEO, and President
|
Company
|
Lockheed Martin
|
Industry
|
Aerospace & Defense
|
Hewson posted record operating
profits and earnings per share in 2013, her first year as CEO of the world’s
largest defense contractor, despite a 4% drop in revenue, to $45.4 billion. Now
she is looking to industries such as renewable energy for new customers.
5-Ellen Kullman
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Rank
|
5
|
Previous Rank
|
3
|
Age
|
58
|
Title
|
Chairman and CEO
|
Company
|
DuPont
|
Industry
|
Chemicals, Bioscience
|
DuPont’s share price was in a
10-year slump when Kullman took over in 2009. Since then, she’s moved the
212-year-old company into higher-margin areas like nutrition, advanced
materials, and bioscience. She sold the auto paints unit in 2013 and will shed
performance chemicals like Teflon and Freon next year. Investors seem to like
the moves: DuPont’s market cap has more than doubled during her tenure.
6-Meg Whitman
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Rank
|
6
|
Previous Rank
|
9
|
Age
|
58
|
Title
|
Chairman, CEO, and President
|
Company
|
Hewlett-Packard
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Whitman added the chairman
title at Hewlett-Packard in July, two years into her five-year plan to turn
around the struggling tech giant. In the third quarter of 2014, HP’s sales rose
for the first time in over three years. But 2013 revenue fell 6.7%, to $112.2
billion.
7-Irene Rosenfeld
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Rank
|
7
|
Previous Rank
|
6
|
Age
|
61
|
Title
|
Chairman and CEO
|
Company
|
Mondelez International
|
Industry
|
Consumer Products
|
The global snack company
boosted sales and profits by 1% and 28%, respectively, in 2013. But Rosenfeld,
facing weak consumer spending and pressure from shareholder Nelson Peltz, plans
to cut $1.5 billion in costs over the next four years.
8-Pat Woertz
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Rank
|
8
|
Previous Rank
|
7
|
Age
|
61
|
Title
|
Chairman, CEO, and President
|
Company
|
Archer Daniels Midland
|
Industry
|
Food Production
|
Woertz, CEO since 2006, came
to ADM from Chevron with big plans for ethanol. Since then, she’s also pushed
to diversify the $90 billion agri-giant, spending $3.1 billion this year to
purchase Swiss-German flavoring company Wild Flavors.
9-Abigail Johnson
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Rank
|
9
|
Previous Rank
|
10
|
Age
|
52
|
Title
|
President
|
Company
|
FMR
(parent of Fidelity Investments)
|
Industry
|
Finance
|
Fidelity is the second-largest
U.S. mutual fund company, with $4.62 trillion in assets last year, up 19% from
the year before. Johnson, president since 2012, has reached out to women and
millennials. Fidelity funds actually led Uber’s latest funding round.
10-Sheryl Sandberg
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Rank
|
10
|
Previous Rank
|
5
|
Age
|
45
|
Title
|
COO
|
Company
|
Facebook
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Last year
was all about Sandberg: Her bestselling book, Lean In, helped her become the face
of corporate gender equality. This year is all about Facebook. Its 2013 profits
jumped an astounding 2,730%, mainly because of increased revenue from mobile
ads, and it announced huge deals in early 2014 to acquire virtual-reality
company Oculus VR for over $2 billion and buzzy messaging platform WhatsApp for
$19 billion. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s No. 2, Sandberg remains crucial to the
company’s long-term strategy. She’s also the best-paid woman on our list,
making $38 million last year.
11-Phebe Novakovic
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Rank
|
11
|
Previous Rank
|
11
|
Age
|
56
|
Title
|
Chairman and CEO
|
Company
|
General Dynamics
|
Industry
|
Aerospace & Defense
|
Novakovic took over in January
2013, just after General Dynamics lost $332 million. She’s since moved the
defense contractor back into the black, posting $2.4 billion in 2013 profits,
thanks to new Gulfstream aircraft and a big order from Canada.
12-Carol Meyrowitz
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Rank
|
12
|
Previous Rank
|
12
|
Age
|
60
|
Title
|
CEO
|
Company
|
TJX Companies
|
Industry
|
Retail
|
The parent of T.J. Maxx,
HomeGoods, and Marshalls is a rare success story in an abysmal retail climate
(see story). Since Meyrowitz took over in 2007, profits have almost tripled, revenue
has jumped nearly 60%, to $27.4 billion, and the stock is up over 300%.
13-Lynn Good
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Rank
|
13
|
Previous Rank
|
16
|
Age
|
55
|
Title
|
CEO and President
|
Company
|
Duke Energy
|
Industry
|
Utilities
|
In February 2014, seven months
after Good became the first female CEO to lead Duke Energy, the company spilled
as many as 39,000 tons of coal ash in North Carolina. Crisis management has
kept Good busy, as has investing in Duke’s renewable-energy unit.
14-Safra Catz
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Rank
|
14
|
Previous Rank
|
14
|
Age
|
52
|
Title
|
Co-President and CFO
|
Company
|
Oracle
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
The longtime Oracle executive
continues to help grow the $37.2 billion company through acquisitions: Catz
oversaw eight in fiscal 2013, and in July, Oracle announced its biggest deal
since 2010, acquiring hospitality tech provider Micros Systems.
15-Rosalind Brewer
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Rank
|
15
|
Previous Rank
|
15
|
Age
|
52
|
Title
|
CEO and
President, Sam's Club
|
Company
|
Wal-Mart Stores
|
Industry
|
Retail
|
Brewer wants to double the
size of Sam’s Club, a move that would turn the warehouse club division of
Wal-Mart into a more than $100 billion business. Last year she increased fees
for the first time since 2006, which helped boost membership income 5.9%.
16-Marissa Mayer
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Rank
|
16
|
Previous Rank
|
8
|
Age
|
39
|
Title
|
CEO and President
|
Company
|
Yahoo
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Since Mayer took over in July
2012, she has spent almost $1.4 billion on 37 acquisitions. Yet Yahoo’s sales
fell 6% in 2013, dropping it from the Fortune 500. The bright spot: its 24%
stake in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant that’s slated to go public
tomorrow.
17-Ursula Burns
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Rank
|
17
|
Previous Rank
|
13
|
Age
|
55
|
Title
|
Chairman and CEO
|
Company
|
Xerox
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Burns has moved Xerox away
from printing hardware and toward business services since she became CEO in
2009. Though Xerox’s revenue continues to fall–down 2.5%, to $21.8 billion, in
2013–investors won’t give up; the stock is up 34% year-over-year.
18-Melanie Healey
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Rank
|
18
|
Previous Rank
|
17
|
Age
|
53
|
Title
|
Group President, North America
|
Company
|
Procter & Gamble
|
Industry
|
Consumer Products
|
The Brazilian-born Healey has
been running P&G’s largest division, the $32.1 billion North America unit,
for five years and reports directly to CEO A.G. Lafley. After years of tepid
growth, there are signs of improvement. But it’s
still a turnaround situation.
19-Susan Wojcicki
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Rank
|
19
|
Previous Rank
|
19
|
Age
|
46
|
Title
|
CEO, YouTube
|
Company
|
Google
|
Industry
|
Tech
|
Wojcicki was SVP of ads and
commerce, the unit that creates Google’s ad products, until becoming YouTube’s
CEO in February. YouTube has just $4 billion in estimated revenue, but it’s
critical to the $60.6 billion tech giant–which is why she got the job.
20-Sandi Peterson
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Rank
|
20
|
Previous Rank
|
-
|
Age
|
55
|
Title
|
Group Worldwide Chairman
|
Company
|
Johnson & Johnson
|
Industry
|
Consumer Products
|
Peterson is in her second year
leading consumer-facing businesses, which include brands like Tylenol and
Listerine. She has responsibility for $20 billion in revenue and some 70,000
people–more than half of J&J’s total workforce.
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