Margarita Louis-Dreyfus

When Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the chairman of the third-largest commodities firm in the world, was dying of leukemia in 2008, he set up a family trust called Akira BV to hold his majority stake in the company. He designated his stay-at-home wife Margarita Louis-Dreyfus as the family trustee, ensuring the law- and economics-trained Russian would have the strongest position on the board when he passed away the following year. Despite having little experience, she rose to the occasion, ousting the Louis Dreyfus Chairman and CEO and, by 2011, installing herself as Chairperson of Louis Dreyfus Holding. This year, Margarita consolidated her power even more, increasing Akira’s controlling interest to a supermajority position. Louis Dreyfus Commodities handled around 80 million tons of commodities like rice and cotton in 2014, generating $64.7 billion in sales. —Claire Groden