Vicki Hollub

Within three years of becoming CEO, Hollub this spring undertook the most audacious move in the oil industry in years: acquiring petroleum producer Anadarko—and beating out rival suitor Chevron. The deal has been unpopular with investors, who have sent the stock down 27% year to date. But it has made Hollub the queen of the Permian Basin, America’s top crude-pumping region, where Oxy has become the No. 1 producer.