Heads of state, philanthropists, journalists, celebrity powerhouses and CEOs of large corporations make up Forbes‘ annual list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
Out of the 27 CEOs on the list, seven of them are relatively new chiefs: Yahoo‘s (NASDAQ:YHOO) Marissa Mayer, Avon‘s (NYSE:AVP) Sheri McCoy, Hewlett-Packard‘s (NYSE:HPQ) Meg Whitman, Laura Lang who heads Time Warner‘s (NYSE:TWX) Time Inc., IBM‘s (NYSE:IBM) Ginni Rometty, Rosalind Brewer from Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) subsidiary Sam’s Club, and Maria das Gracas Silva Foster of Brazil’s Petrobras.
The highest-ranking businesswoman on the list is Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg (pictured above). While Sandberg may not officially run the world’s largest social media outlet, the fact that she’s been a game-changer for the company goes without question.
Here’s a quick look at the ten women who topped Forbes list of powerful women.
- Angela Merkel: Chancellor, Germany
- Hillary Clinton: Secretary of State, U.S.
- Dilma Rousseff: President, Brazil
- Melinda Gates: Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Jill Abramson: Executive Editor, New York Times Co.
- Sonia Gandhi: President, Indian National Congress, India
- Michelle Obama: First Lady, U.S.
- Christine Lagarde: Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
- Janet Napolitano: Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, U.S.
- Sheryl Sandberg: COO, Facebook
See the complete list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women at Forbes.com.
