The 5 Most Powerful Women in Technology

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The technology sector traditionally has been known for a glaring under-representation of women. Deloitte Global predicts that by the end of this year, “fewer than 25 percent of information technology (IT) jobs in developed countries will be held by women.”

The 5 Most Powerful Women in Technology

That shortcoming is the result of issues along just about every link in the chain, from gender diversity in education, to hiring, to how women are compensated once they get in the door.

That’s unfortunate, because numerous women have proven that more than one gender has what it takes to make it to the tippy top of the technology world — and leave a mark once they get there.

Today, we take a look at the five most powerful women in technology:

Ginni Rometty, IBM (IBM)

Position: CEO

These days, it’s rare for an executive to stay with the same company for five years, much less 35 years. But Ginni Rometty joined International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) as a systems engineer back in 1981 and never looked back. By 2009, she had worked her way up to senior vice president and group executive of sales. Rometty finished her climb up the corporate ladder in 2012 when she was named IBM’s first female CEO.

In her four years at the helm, she has worked to continue IBM’s incredible transformation. IBM is shifting away from hardware and toward data analytics software, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Rometty has overseen the sale of floundering segments like chip manufacturing and has spearheaded the company’s development of cognitive computing technology.

Rometty told Bloomberg recently that her IBM Watson team is working on integrating AI into the word of medical detection and diagnosis. The company is focusing on parts of the world that have shortages of doctors.

She also hopes IBM’s cognitive system will be recognized as far superior to AAPL’s Siri and Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Alexa.

Susan Wojcicki, YouTube

Position: CEO

Wojcicki has been part of the Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) team from the very beginning. In fact, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin set up a workspace in Wojcicki’s garage way back in 1998.

Wojcicki became Google’s first marketing manager in 1999 and was named senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce shortly thereafter. During her tenure as head of advertising, she led the development of critical Google products like AdWords and Google Analytics … and a fun project or two, like Google Doodles. In 2010, her advertising products brought Google more than $28 billion in revenues.

In 2014, Wojcicki was named YouTube CEO and maintained the position when Google restructured under the Alphabet umbrella in 2015.

In a recent interview, Wojcicki said that YouTube has “an opportunity to reinvent TV.” Her primary goal in the near-term is focusing on building YouTube’s massive user base, which currently stands at more than 1 billion — or roughly a third of the world’s internet users.

Wojcicki now uses her influence to campaign for a cause that is important for career women and men alike: paid parental leave.

Meg Whitman, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Position: CEO

Perhaps no CEO, male or female, has faced a tougher challenge in recent years than Meg Whitman.

Whitman became a household name in the technology world when she took over as CEO of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) in 1998.

The changes Whitman made at EBAY from day one, including bringing in a world-class executive team, caught the eye of another struggling tech company.

When Hewlett-Packard named Whitman CEO in 2011, the world’s transition away from personal computers was weighing on the company like an anchor. Whitman immediately put into place an aggressive five-year plan to split the company into two new companies: PC and printer company HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) and commercial computer systems, software and tech services company Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE).

Earlier this year, the transition continued when HPE announced the spinoff of its tech services operations, which merged with Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC).

Angela Ahrendts, Apple (AAPL)

Position: Senior Vice President of Retail

Angela Ahrendts heads Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) 478 retail stores and oversees online sales as well. Prior to joining Apple in 2014, Ahrendts served as CEO of Burberry (OTCMKTS:BURBY) from 2006 to 2013 and was credited with saving the company’s deteriorating reputation. Ironically, she reportedly drew inspiration from outside of the fashion world, looking to Apple for world-class design inspiration.

Burberry’s value skyrocketed by 250% during Ahrendts’ 12-year tenure at the helm.

“She motivates people. And she is the sort of person who wants to see things succeed as a team,” Burberry chairman Sir John Peace said about Ahrendts.

Ahrendts’ latest mission has been a total makeover of the Apple Store. She wants to shift focus from the technical capabilities of the companies’ devices to their artistic and creative potential.

“This is more than just a store,” Ahrendts said at the unveiling of the new Apple Store in San Francisco. “We want people to say, ‘Hey, meet me at Apple.'”

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook (FB)

Position: COO

Sandberg first joined the tech world when she served as Google’s vice president of online sales from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, Sandberg made the move to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).

The stock struggled early after Facebook’s historic 2012 IPO. Investors were concerned with Facebook’s ability to grow profits. But Sandberg had been working on the problem since day one. She reportedly spearheaded the push to integrate advertisements into the FB platform. By 2010, FB began turning a profit and never looked back.

In 2012, Sandberg was named Facebook’s first and only female board member. This year, Sandberg was named the seventh most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. That makes Sandberg the highest-ranked woman in the entire tech industry.

And according to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is now considering Sandberg for a position in her cabinet.

As of this writing, Wayne Duggan did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Wayne Duggan has been a U.S. News & World Report Investing contributor since 2016 and is a staff writer at Benzinga, where he has written more than 7,000 articles. Mr. Duggan is the author of the book “Beating Wall Street With Common Sense,” which focuses on investing psychology and practical strategies to outperform the stock market.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/08/5-most-powerful-women-technology/.

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