most powerful women 2014





Nearly half the women on our list run huge companies—a record. And all are working hard to transform their businesses.
By Caroline Fairchild, Beth Kowitt, Colleen Leahey, and Anne VanderMey, with additional reporting by Michal Lev-Ram and Patricia Sellers
More CEOs, more industries, more power, more challenges. That’s the story of Fortune’s 2014 ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Women in ­Business, which features an all-time record of 24 large-company CEOs in its pages. Our women are leading—and in many cases pushing through difficult transformations—in heavy industries such as tech, energy, defense, and autos. Ginni Rometty, No. 1 for the third time running, continues to retool <a href="https://fortune.com/company/ibm/" target="_blank">IBM</a>. No. 2, Mary Barra, must fix <a href="https://fortune.com/company/general-motors/" target="_blank">General Motors</a> from the inside out. And Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of <a href="https://fortune.com/company/lockheed-martin/" target="_blank">Lockheed Martin</a> and our fourth-ranked woman, is looking beyond defense for growth. Today eight of our top 10 MPW lead large industrial, tech, and consumer products companies.
It’s a long way from our original 1998 list, on which, we noted at the time, most members “came from industries with a premium on creativity,” such as advertising, media, and publishing, with “no top women at blue-chip firms.” Creativity is still a requirement for success, of course, but you no longer have to work in a “creative” industry to advance as a woman. Another common denominator is change: Seven of our top 50 were named to their jobs in the past year, and nine are newcomers to the list. That suggests more turnover at the upper echelons of business—which, it’s fair to say, is a very good thing for a whole lot of powerful women. —Jennifer Reingold






Ginni Rometty

Mary Barra

Indra Nooyi

Marillyn Hewson

Ellen Kullman

Meg Whitman

Irene Rosenfeld

Pat Woertz

Abigail Johnson

Sheryl Sandberg

Phebe Novakovic

Carol Meyrowitz

Lynn Good

Safra Catz

Rosalind Brewer

Marissa Mayer

Ursula Burns

Melanie Healey

Susan Wojcicki

Sandi Peterson

Renée James

Pam Nicholson

Deb Henretta

Denise Morrison

Gail Boudreaux

Helena Foulkes

Sheri McCoy

Gisel Ruiz

Angela Ahrendts

Debra Reed

Heather Bresch

Mary Erdoes

Bridget van Kralingen

Carrie Tolstedt

Lori Lee

Susan Cameron

Barbara Rentler

Ann-Marie Campbell

Deirdre Connelly

Ilene Gordon

Bonnie Hammer

Kathy Murphy

Gracia Martore

Debra Crew

Sondra Barbour

Marianne Lake

Beth Mooney

Jane Fraser

Nancy Dubuc

Maureen Chiquet

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Most Powerful Women 2014

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Nearly half the women on our list run huge companies—a record. And all are working hard to transform their businesses.
By Caroline Fairchild, Beth Kowitt, Colleen Leahey, and Anne VanderMey, with additional reporting by Michal Lev-Ram and Patricia Sellers
More CEOs, more industries, more power, more challenges. That’s the story of Fortune’s 2014 ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Women in ­Business, which features an all-time record of 24 large-company CEOs in its pages. Our women are leading—and in many cases pushing through difficult transformations—in heavy industries such as tech, energy, defense, and autos. Ginni Rometty, No. 1 for the third time running, continues to retool IBM. No. 2, Mary Barra, must fix General Motors from the inside out. And Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin and our fourth-ranked woman, is looking beyond defense for growth. Today eight of our top 10 MPW lead large industrial, tech, and consumer products companies.
It’s a long way from our original 1998 list, on which, we noted at the time, most members “came from industries with a premium on creativity,” such as advertising, media, and publishing, with “no top women at blue-chip firms.” Creativity is still a requirement for success, of course, but you no longer have to work in a “creative” industry to advance as a woman. Another common denominator is change: Seven of our top 50 were named to their jobs in the past year, and nine are newcomers to the list. That suggests more turnover at the upper echelons of business—which, it’s fair to say, is a very good thing for a whole lot of powerful women. —Jennifer Reingold






Most Powerful Women 2014 | Fortune

Most Powerful Women 2014

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