Fortune 500 companies: they are their female CEOs

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The Fortune 500 list revealed that only 24 women are among the CEOs of the companies. Who are they? In what fields do they work?

It is no secret that the world of large companies can become competitive and hostile, even more so for women. The growing debate in recent years on gender equality in the workplace aims to give women the same opportunities as men to occupy high-ranking positions in companies. However, the number of women in these positions is still low and has fallen in recent years.

Leer en español: Conozca a las mujeres CEO en las empresas Fortune 500

That was the last report of Fortune magazine, which in its latest list, Fortune 500, published that only 25 women are listed as CEO in the companies. In 2017, the magazine affirmed that the participation of women in these positions was higher than ever, with 32 companies led by women, but in just one year that figure decreased by 25%.

After the list was published, the number continued to decline when the CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, quitted after twelve years of occupying the post. "I'm worried that we can count how many [women] there are, instead of saying there are hundreds," Nooyi said.

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The women who have recently left the list include Irene Rosenfeld, who served as executive director of the multinational grocery Mondelez, and Meg Whitman, the only woman who has managed two of the Fortune 500 companies (eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise). The two women were replaced by male CEOs, like Nooyi who will be replaced by a veteran PepsiCo member, Ramon Laguarta.

Although they are few, the rise of these CEOs implies a great advance regarding the participation of women in companies that have always been dominated by men. The following are the CEOs who occupy the top ten positions on the list of the most powerful companies in the United States.

Margaret Keane – Synchrony Financial

Ranked 173 on the list, Keane has been the executive director and president of Synchrony Financial since February 2014. She has also held the position of executive director and president of Retail Consumer Finance since November 29, 2005. She is also one of the only two women who run a US bank UU with an independent trade that exceeds the value of $ 10 billion. The other woman is Beth Mooney of KeyCorp, which is ranked 412 on the list.

Michelle Gass – Kohl's

She started in the marketing area of the P & G company in 1990. There she lasted almost six years and then worked for 16 years at Starbucks, where she held various positions. In 2013, she served as director of marketing and customer service at Kohl's and, in May 2018, was named CEO of the company. She is ranked 157 on the list.

Lynn Good – Duke Energy

Good is ranked 125 on the list. She has been CEO of Duke Energy Corporation since June 2013. Previously, she served as the financial director and directed the company's commercial energy business during its initial development of renewable energy projects. She is one of the executives with the highest remuneration in the United States.

Tricia Griffith – Progressive Corporation

Griffith joined the Progressive company in 1988, held various management positions and in 2002 became the director of human resources. She later served as operations director of the progressive line branch and on July 1, 2016, she was named CEO of the company. She is ranked 112 on the list.

Phebe Novakovic – General Dynamics

Novakovic worked for the United States Department of Defense between 1997 and 2001. She joined General Dynamics in 2001 and became president and chief operating officer in 2012. She has served as CEO of General Dynamics since January 2013. In 2018, she ranked 25th in the list of the most powerful women in the world made by Forbes magazine. She is ranked 99 on the list.

Safra Catz – Oracle

Catz has been an Oracle Corporation executive since April 1999 and a board member since 2001. In April 2011, she was named co-chair and chief financial officer. On September 18, 2014, she was named CEO of the company with Mark Hurd. She occupies the position 82 in the list.

Marilyn Hewson – Lockheed Martin

Hewson joined Lockheed Martin in 1983 and has held various executive positions in the company as president and director of operations, president of logistics services, among others. On November 9, 2012, she was elected to the board of directors of the company and since January 2013 she has been CEO. She is ranked 59.

Ginni Rometty – IBM

Before becoming CEO in January 2012, she joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981 and subsequently led global sales and marketing strategies. As general manager of IBM's global services division, she helped negotiate IBM's purchase of the IT consulting business PricewaterhouseCoopers, which made her known for her work in integrating the two companies. She is ranked 34 on the list.

Gail Boudreaux – Anthem

Boudreaux served as an executive in several companies such as Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois (2002) and UnitedHealth Group (2008). In 2009, she was included in the 54th position in the list of the 100 most powerful women made by Forbes. In the fall of 2014, she left the post of CEO of UnitedHealthcare and in November 2017 became CEO of Anthem Inc. She is ranked 29th on the list.

Mary Barra – General Motors

The woman in the highest position of the list of Fortune 500 is Mary Barra in the 10th position. She is the president and CEO of the company General Motors. She has held the position of CEO since January 15, 2014, and is the first female executive of a world-class car company. On December 10, 2013, the company named her to succeed Dan Akerson as executive director and, before that, Barra served as executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and the company's supply chain.

LatinAmerican Post | Maria Fernanda Barinas

Translated from "Conozca a las mujeres CEO en las empresas Fortune 500"