The 10 Most Influential Women in Business
Sherilyn McCoy – Johnson and Johnson
As vice chairwoman of the home-goods behemoth Johnson and Johnson, McCoy is responsible for much of the company’s successes over the years. She had been the chief of the pharmaceutical division of Johnson and Johnson for years before she was tasked to revamp the consumer side of the company’s operations. She is credited with being integral in bringing Johnson and Johnson up to snuff with their competitors on the consumer side of the business, and is the likely successor to current CEO Bill Weldon.
Meg Whitman – Hewlett Packard
Meg Whitman is the current CEO of Hewlett Packard, the largest technology company in the world by revenues. She was once a candidate for the governorship of California, and is noted for her ability to reach compromises with diverse individuals. These skills are thought to be a large part of why she was hired for this job, since the board of Hewlett Packard is notoriously dysfunctional.
Ursula Burns – Xerox
Ursula Burns is the Chair and CEO of Xerox, and has been instrumental in keeping the company afloat. As the technological world blew past the xerox technology that was the mainstay of the company’s revenues, the company saw itself faltering. Burns has moved much of the company’s resources over to services, which now account for half of the company’s revenue.
Ginni Rometty – IBM
Ginni Rometty is currently the senior vice president of IBM’s sales, marketing, and strategy department, and is currently one of the top choices for the next CEO of the company. She has been instrumental in her work to bring strategy into the sales aspect of how IBM markets its products, and is credited with much of the company’s current success in that direction.
Andrea Jung – Avon
As Chair and CEO of Avon, Jung has been instrumental in the meteoric rise of Avon’s revenues. Last year, Avon made nearly $11 billion in revenue by making a lot of investments abroad. She is the longest serving female CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history, and she also sites on the boards of such prestigious companies as Apple and GE.
Angela Braly – Wellpoint
Angela Braly is the current CEO of Wellpoint, a medical insurance company. She has been pushing the company into taking over more senior care businesses to help capitalize on medicare and medicaid resources. Her company provides coverage to one of out of every nine covered Americans. That equates to over 34 million members and growing, making Angela Braly the most powerful woman in insurance.
Ellen Kullman – DuPont
Ellen Kullman is the chair and CEO of DuPont, and has been responsible for its shift into the food market. With a recent acquisition of a large Danish food manufacturer, she is trying to capitalize on a shift into nutrition. Moves like this give Kullman credit as the person responsible for the turnaround of DuPont stocks in the market these past few years.
Patricia Woertz – Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland is a processor of agricultural commodities in the worldwide market, and they have seen a steady growth in their revenues over the past few years. Patricia Woertz started off as an accountant, then moved on to being an executive at an oil company before moving to Archer Daniels Midland. She is instrumental in pushing overseas investments in agricultural production, as well as agricultural energy production.
Indra Nooyi – PepsiCo.
Indra is the CEO and chair of PepsiCo., and has been instrumental in the company’s shift into the nutrition industry. The money that PepsiCo. was spending on nutrition-based foodstuffs is projected to rise more than $20 billion on Indra’s watch, with less of a focus being spent on the soda market. While some have criticized her for shifting the focus away from sodas, she is hailed by others for her foresight in trying to branch the company out.
Irene Rosenfeld – Kraft Foods
Irene Rosenfeld is the CEO of Kraft, and is credited with forcing the split earlier in 2011 of the company into two separate entities. This was a shift from her previous strategy of gaining market share through acquisitions, but is also thought to be a bold step that shows her business prowess and the power she holds to split such a large company.
