Nothing in life is so easy to achieve and especially when one is talking about being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a Fortune 500 company – a globally recognized company.
Nowadays women are taking a giant stride by challenging and competing with their male counterparts in various prestigious job positions such as Chief Executive Officers, Directors, Chairmen, etc.
As the highest-ranking officer, it is the ultimate responsibility of the CEO to oversee the overall performance of the corporation or company; make risky decisions, and introduce new ideas.
SEE ALSO: Top 5 Awesome Qualities That Will Make You A Great CEOWorld Top 5 Female CEOs
CEOs held prestigious, high-risk as well as high-reward positions and only around 3.6% of Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs as recently as October 2012.
According to Forbes, “there are now 20 female CEOs running America’s largest companies. That paltry number (4%) is actually a record.”
SEE ALSO: Don’t Go There! Top 10 Professions Where Women Earn LessSuch companies as IBM appointed Ginni Rometty this year while Walmart appointed Rosalind Brewer as its first woman and first African-American to head a subsidiary company, Sam’s Club.
#1]. Marissa Ann Mayer
President/CEO of Yahoo!
At 37, Mayer became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she was made the President and CEO of Yahoo!.
Previously, she was a long-time executive and key spokesperson for Google, a company she joined straight out of University as the first female engineer. Mayer’s time with Google witnessed the company’s rapid growth from a young start-up to one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Before her appointment at Yahoo!, Mayer left Google as the vice president of location and local services, a division responsible for products such as Google Maps. Her Yahoo! annual base salary is estimated to be roughly $1 million and she already has a net worth of $300 million.
#2]. Margaret Cushing “Meg” Whitman –
President/CEO of Hewlett-Packard
With an impressive resume including positions at DreamWorks, Proctor & Gamble, and eBay, Whitman was elected as President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard in September 2011.
Whitman served as an executive in The Walt Disney Company where she was Vice President of strategic planning before she served as an executive for DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro.
Whitman’s remarkable achievement came when she served as President and CEO of eBay between 1998 and 2008 where she oversaw expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue during her ten years with the company.
But like Mayer, Whitman’s appointment as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard is not going to be an easy task because Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been struggling in recent years as smartphones and tablets have taken market share from traditional computers.
#3]. Virginia Rometty
President/CEO of IBM
Virginia Marie “Ginni” Rometty is a business executive who joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer before she was elected President and CEO of IBM over 30 years later.
Upon her appointment as the Chairman and CEO of IBM, she became the first female CEO in the company’s 100-year history.
Before she became IBM’s President and CEO in 2012, Rometty has previously held the position of Senior Vice President and Group Executive for Sales, Marketing, and Strategy at the company.
Prior to her being ranked #1 in 2012, she has been consistently named in Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for eight consecutive years. Her 2011 annual salary was $715,000, but she managed to receive over $8.3 million in total compensation.
#4]. Patricia Ann Woertz
President/CEO of Archer Daniels Midland
Having previously served as Executive Vice President of the Chevron Corporation before her appointment as the President and CEO of Archer Daniels Midland in 2007, Patricia Ann Woertz is regarded as one of the world’s powerful businesswomen.
Her appointment as the President and CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, which is one of the largest agricultural processors in the world, saw her ranked the 3rd most powerful woman by Fortune magazine in 2010.
Woertz earned around $11 million in total compensation in 2011, and only $1.3 million of that was her annual salary. She also serves on the board of directors for Proctor & Gamble and the U.S.-China Business Council.
#5]. Indra Nooyi
President/CEO of PepsiCo
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is an Indian-American business executive and the current Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world.
Prior to joining Pepsi in 1994 and being appointed as the CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, who studied at the prestigious Yale School of Management, has previously worked for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Motorola, and Asea Brown Boveri.
According to Forbes, Indra Nooyi is consistently ranked among World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Her 2011 compensation was more than $17 million, including a base salary of around $1.6 million.
Apart from running Pepsi, Nooyi also finds time to serve as a member of seven other different boards.
This is highly inspiring…if they can do it, I can do it too!
Amazing stuff…all these women have paid their dues and paved ways for other young women like myself to strive for the best
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