The most powerful women in business are a true representation of success in the corporate world. The female leaders of today have grown to become the most inspiring role models and the epitome of gender equality. These women not only achieved victory for themselves but have also made a pathway to victory for others.
Their accomplishments range from leading Fortune 500 companies to starting their own businesses. They are leading innovators in numerous industries and trailblazers in the fight for gender parity in the workplace. Their inspiring stories are proof that a woman can achieve her dreams no matter the environment or circumstance.
These powerful women have made the world a better place, and through their achievements, they are encouraging a new generation of powerful businesswomen.
The presence of women in leadership highlights an environment that has no room for gender discrimination. Such a dynamic is associated with outstanding work performance, which, ultimately, would result in productivity and profitability.
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What personal qualities do I need to be a strong, successful woman in the business world?
- Confidence: Having the confidence to speak up for yourself, to make decisions, and to take risks when needed.
- Leadership: Being capable of taking on challenges, delegating tasks, and inspiring teams when needed.
- Determination: Never give up until you have achieved your desired outcomes.
- Communication: Being able to effectively communicate with colleagues, customers, and potential business partners.
- Flexibility: Being open to change and new ideas when needed.
- Organization: Being able to stay organized and handle your workload.
- Networking: Continue to build relationships with people in your field and get out to potential contacts.
- Creative Problem-Solving: Finding creative solutions to difficult problems.
- Professional Development: Taking the initiative to discover new skills and constantly improve.
- Self-Care: Taking time to recharge and prioritize your own mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
We celebrate the trailblazing women in business! Listed in no particular order, these powerful females are achieving global recognition for their leadership and expertise in what many in the past would call a man’s world:
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Emma Walmsley
CEO – GlaxoSmithKline PLC
Net Worth: $2.5 Million
Emma Walmsley was born in 1969 to Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Walmsley and Lady Christina Walmsley in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. She earned a Classics and Modern Languages (MA) degree from Oxford University. Today, she is known as the first and the only female CEO of one of the major pharmaceutical firms in the world, GlaxoSmithKline. She took over the position from Sir Andrew Witty in April 2017.
Before this, Emma Walmsley was the marketing head of the French Cosmetics company L’Oreal and ran its Chinese consumer products for 17 years. She joined GlaxoSmithKline in 2010.
Despite her limited experience in the field, not to mention the faint welcome from investors, Walmsley became a member of the Board and became the CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare. Her international consumer product background and previous general management roles gave her the advantage.
Walmsley’s remarkable achievements include a restructuring that aimed to save GlaxoSmithKline £400 million. She is recorded as the highest-paid female in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index with a £6 million paycheck.
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Virginia Rometty
Chairperson, President & CEO – IBM
Net Worth: $27.2 Million
Virginia Rometty is one of the most influential female leaders in tech. IBM, under her leadership, created the Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) education model to assist students excel in their tech-related careers.
A top boss and an influential business figure in America, Rometty was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1957 to an Italian-American family. She earned her Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degrees from Northwestern University and honorary doctoral degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and North Carolina State University. In 1979, Rometty joined General Motors Institute and subsequently became part of IBM as a systems analyst and systems engineer. She held several technical positions before becoming CEO in 2012.
Rometty was instrumental in changing the workplace policy of refusing non-bachelor degree holder applicants. She also supported the company’s focus on AI, cloud computing, cognitive computing systems, blockchain, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies. Under Rometty’s watch, IBM had blockchain collaboration with food companies from across the globe, enabling them to detect contaminated products in just a short quantity of time. Rometty’s efforts helped push IBM into becoming a data-driven company.
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Rometty also serves her alma mater, Northwestern University, as one of the Board of Trustees, Board of Managers for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a council member at the Latin America Conservation Council. She also supports sustained actions in keeping women in the workforce through programs like extended parental leave, a breastmilk delivery program, and returnships.
Mary Barra
Chairman & CEO – General Motors
Net Worth: $59 Million
Mary Barra joined General Motors (GM) at the tender age of 18. She started her career at GM checking fender panels and inspecting hoods. It was in 2008 when Barra started to climb the ladder and became the vice president of the company’s Global Manufacturing Engineering division. In 2014, she became the first female chief executive of a significant motor-vehicle company.
Barra was born in Michigan in 1961 to parents of Finnish descent. She is an Electrical Engineering who earned her degree from the General Motors Institute and earned a Master of Business Administration through a GM fellowship.
Barra pushed GM toward creating bold investments. Under her direction, the company launched the ride-sharing service called Maven, established a partnership with Lyft by investing $500 million, produced the electric Chevrolet Bolt, and received the startup company Cruise Automation.
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One of her most significant achievements is successfully overcoming an ignition-switch defect crisis that had millions of GM cars recalled. She then created a team for an independent investigation. Barra led the company out of a problem that would have negatively impacted GM corporate-wide. To this day, she continues to emphasize the significance of clear and honest communication between GM employees and customers, making her one of the most well-liked leaders in business.
“We have the ambition, the talent, and the technology to create a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.”
Marillyn Hewson
CEO – Lockheed Martin Corporation
Net Worth: $86.9 Million
Trustworthiness, compassion, decisiveness, and innovation are the four traits one must possess to be a great leader, Marillyn Hewson, is the first female President and CEO of the global security and aerospace manufacturing company, Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Originally from Junction City, Kansas, Hewson credits her parents Warren Adams and Mary Adams for her leadership skills. A Business Administration major and a Master of Economics from the University of Alabama, she also attended Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School’s executive development programs.
Hewson joined Lockheed Martin Corporation in 1983 and performed her way up to become the CEO. Under her watch, the largest defense corporation in America saw its stock surge to its highest price yet at over 300%. She uses an “opportunistic” strategy that sustains steady profits and constant shareholder returns.
To this day, Hewson demonstrates exceptional leadership evident in the overall financial and operational performance of the company. She prioritizes international expansion which will lead to a massive rise in overseas earnings. Ultimately, she exemplifies integrity and carries a great vision as a leader.
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Safra Catz
CEO – Oracle Corp.
Net Worth: $1Billion
One of the most powerful businesswomen in Silicon Valley, Safra Catz is the Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corporation, the software giant she has served and helped grow for 20 years. Since joining the global computer technology corporation, Oracle, in 1999, Catz has held diverse executive positions. She is credited for leading the $10.3-billion acquisition of rival company PeopleSoft, Inc., in 2005.
Catz was born in Holon, Israel, in 1961 to Jewish parents. Her family moved to Massachusetts when she was six. Catz holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She began as a banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and climbed to the top as an investment banking executive for years.
Before taking the CEO spot at Oracle, Catz served the company as a co-CEO to Mark Hurd. Today, she just leads a multibillion tech company, overseeing the finance, manufacturing, and legal operations. She is also leading the company’s expansion of its cloud computing products and technologies to collaborate with tech behemoths such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
Judith McKenna
President & CEO – Walmart, Inc.
Net Worth: $41.1 Million
Judith McKenna is the woman running the international division of Walmart Inc. In 2018, she was the President and CEO of the mega-retail corporation of more than 700,000 employees in over 6,000 retail stores worldwide. It was also in 2018 that she led the $16 billion acquisition of Indian e-commerce company Flipkart. Walmart’s international dealings raked in $116 billion in revenue.
McKenna graduated with a law degree from Hull University in England. With her Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales accounting qualification, she finished years working with different companies before earning the highest rank in business.
McKenna started with KPMG, Carlsberg Tetley, and Allied Domecq. She joined ASDA, a subsidiary of Walmart, in 1996. Before being Walmart’s international chief, McKenna’s notable accomplishments as the CFO included a $2 billion investment in technology, training, and higher wages. She also implemented the help of an online ordering system and in-store pick-up to increase consumer choice and decrease shipping time.
“Perception is reality. I think Walmart was a lot better than people thought, here in the U.S., in particular. But I still think there was more that could have been done, and I guess watching those pieces come together is incredible. It started with sustainability. And it’s continuing on that journey now.”
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Gail Boudreaux
President and CEO – Anthem, Inc.
Net Worth: $41.3 Million
Gail Boudreaux is the President and CEO of Anthem, Inc., the largest for-profit health insurance provider in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Under her leadership, the company acquired Beacon Health Options which resulted in the company’s expanded and diversified health services.
She now focuses on the modernization of the healthcare industry through Anthem’s app, which lets users access their data and see their claims history. She also accelerated the company’s pharmacy usefulness, which allowed for better savings for customers.
An outstanding women’s basketball athlete, Boudreaux graduated cum laude at Dartmouth College. She also earned her MBA from Columbia Business School.
For several years now, Boudreaux has been dedicating her service to the healthcare industry. Early on in her career, the 60-year-old business leader had executive roles in top health insurance companies AETNA, External Operations Health Care Service Corporation, UnitedHealthcare at UnitedHealth Group, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, and GKB Global Health, LLC. She showed one of these companies to reach the $120-billion revenue mark.
Raja Easa Al Gurg
Vice-Chairperson & Managing Director – Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group
Raja Easa Al Gurg is the Vice-Chairperson and Managing Director of the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group (ESAG), a United Arab Emirates conglomerate that funds in real estate, building and construction, retail, lifestyle, and manufacturing industries.
Al Gurg was born in 1955 to an Emirati father and a Kuwaiti mother and grew up in Bur Dubai when it was still a place of small settlements and low-rising buildings. An English Literature major, she was the first among her siblings to attend a university. She worked as a headmistress in a secondary school before taking over for her dad in running their business.
Al Gurg holds different titles and positions in other companies and organizations like the Dubai Businesswomen Council, Dubai Healthcare City Authority, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), and Dubai Women’s Association. Today, there is proof of an increase in the number of Emirati women running their businesses, thanks to Al Gurg’s persistence in motivating the younger generation of females in Dubai. She is known for her career in advancing women’s rights.
Abigail Johnson
President and CEO – Fidelity Investments
Net Worth: $16.3 Billion
Abigail “Abby” Johnson is best known for her role as President and CEO of Fidelity Investments in 2014. She is among the few female financial leaders who own triumphantly made the trillion-dollar mutual funds company that it is today
Johnson began her career in the company’s customer relations department right after high school. Now 59, she transitioned to evolve an analyst and portfolio manager after earning her MBA from Harvard Business School.
The bear market and the emergence of the company’s toughest competitor had Johnson defying the norms, working harder, and seeking higher. She encouraged aggressive trading in the open market and changed the company policy including a series of acquisitions and mergers. She also launched new products to promote more investments. Under her leadership, Fidelity Investments welcomed cryptocurrency to their fold.
“I’d like to think that huge new markets and products are going to be built on these open platforms. Blockchain technology isn’t just a more efficient way to settle transactions, it can fundamentally change market structures and perhaps even the architecture of the internet itself.”
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Ruth Porat
CFO and Senior Vice President – Alphabet Inc., and subsidiary Google
Net Worth: Roughly $70 Million
Ruth Porat’s excellent work principles and a keen eye for strategy helped develop a financial discipline in the business world. The 63-year-old has come a long way from her fight with breast cancer in 2001. At present, Porat is one of the most influential women in Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc.
Straight out of Stanford University with an Economics degree, Porat first worked at Morgan Stanley Mergers & Acquisitions, where she stayed for decades and went on to gain the moniker, “the most powerful woman of Wall Street.” In the 90s, she gave financial guidance to big companies like Amazon and eBay. She was also an advisor to the US Treasury during the financial crisis. The same distinction is given to her now that she leads the tech world.
Under her watch, Google’s non-advertising revenues increased. The firm also carried out better data protection, chopped off unfeasible projects, and expanded its mobile search and programming advertising acquisitions.
Challenges Faced by Female Business Leaders
While the women on this list are certainly inspiring, it’s important to note that none of these women have had an easy time getting where they are in their careers. Unfortunately, there are still a number of major challenges and obstacles that affect aspiring and existing female business leaders—including the proverbial “glass ceiling.”
Believe it or not, wage disparities between men and women are still very real. As of 2022, women’s earnings are still an average of 18 cents less than men per dollar for the exact same work.
For starters, women tend to face fewer job advancement opportunities compared to men in their fields. A study by MIT Sloan, for example, discovered that women are 14 percent less likely to be promoted than their male coworkers, even when they outperformed them.
Meanwhile, many women also face challenges when it comes to work-life balance. Women with families tend to fall into the role of “default parent,” taking on more household and child-rearing work than their male counterparts. This, in turn, affects their capability to move up the career ladder.
