The 2011 Fortune Most Powerful Women list will be announced on September 29. Meantime, a few stars on the 2010 MPW list are on Fortune's Executive Dream Team--a fantasy all-star lineup of managers, selected by Fortune editors with assists from recruiters and other business know-it-alls.
I use the term know-it-all with endearment because the selections, revealed today, are good. The non-executive chair of choice: Anne Mulcahy, the former CEO of Xerox (XRX), which she rescued from the brink. Mulcahy now chairs Save the Children and is also on the boards of Target (TGT) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
The Dream Team Chief People Officer is Susan Chambers, who oversees the employees of Wal-mart (WMT)--the largest corporate population on earth.
On the reserve Executive Dream Team: Kraft Foods (KFT) CEO Irene Rosenfeld, Oracle (ORCL) President and CFO Safra Katz, NBC Universal (CMCSA) EVP Pat Fili-Krushel, and IBM's (IBM) Ginni Rometty, who is a contender to be the next CEO there, after Sam Palmisano retires..
Fortune also assembled a Dream Team for Startups, where Sheryl Sandberg nabbed the chief operating officer slot. That's the same role she holds at Facebook, which every startup desires to be.
Three women who haven't appeared on the Fortune MPW list also made the Startup Dream Team: Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Hyman, Egon Zehnder recruiter Martha Josephson, and Ariel Investments' Mellody Hobson, who has plenty of boardroom experience as a director of Starbucks (SBUX), Estee Lauder (EL), and DreamWorks Animation (DWA). These are women to watch.
Ursula Burns
When Ursula Burns went to Washington and met with President Obama last Friday, at least two people in the room personified her notion of what leads to great success: "The biggest differentiator is not how you are born," says the Chairman and CEO of Xerox (XRX). "It's how you're influenced throughout your life."
Barack Obama had a remarkable single mother to influence him. As did Burns, who grew up MORE
Patricia Sellers - Aug 16, 2011 10:55 AM ET
China's Yang Lan and Avon CEO Andrea Jung
Fortune and Yahoo (YHOO) are teaming up to present weekly content -- stories and videos -- about Most Powerful Women. This is the first in a series of Postcards that will appear on Yahoo and Fortune.com.
It's the start of Most Powerful Women season at Fortune Magazine.
This is the time we begin hunting in earnest for the most successful women in business around MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 29, 2011 9:30 AM ET
Save the Children released its 2011 State of the World report today, ranking the world's best and worst places to be a mother. At the top of the list: Norway, Australia and Iceland. Afghanistan ranks last, while the U.S. comes in at No. 31 among the 43 developed countries ranked. Former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, who chairs Save the Children, wrote an essay for the report and offered to share it MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 3, 2011 10:04 AM ET
by Patricia Sellers
On Monday we asked, "Are girls afraid of money?"
America (and beyond) voted and...I don't know what to conclude except I know that the question stirred the pot.
In the heated debate that ensued, I particularly appreciated the viewpoint of Matt in Springfield, VA, who said he wasn't surprised by the results of the experiment in which five $20 bills were placed randomly on classroom desks, and female college students MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 22, 2011 3:35 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
2010 Most Powerful Women Mentees
Fortune convened more than 100 U.S.-based women leaders plus 33 rising-star women from the developing world for last week's "Most Powerful Women Evening With..." in New York City. Some of the best photos from the dinner gathering come from one of our guests: Kathi Lutton, who heads global litigation for the law firm Fish and Richardson.
Lutton, who lives in Silicon Valley, is MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 28, 2010 12:29 PM ET
Today is a big day for Most Powerful Women, as we at Fortune call women leaders. Today I had lunch at Google's (GOOG) New York offices with 33 rising-star women from around the world who are completing their month-long Fortune-U.S. State Department Mentoring program.
And tonight, these mentees--who have been shadowing top female execs at U.S.-based companies like American Express (AXP), Goldman Sachs (GS), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Time Warner (TWX)--will MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 20, 2010 3:54 PM ET
You wouldn't think that Anne Mulcahy has time to trek to Central America--yes, Haiti is on her calendar, but this year she has already flown south to help children in poverty. Having served as chairman and CEO of Xerox (XRX) for most of the past decade--and turning the company around from near-bankruptcy--Mulcahy, 57, is now Xerox's chairman (with Ursula Burns, her former president, as CEO). Obviously more energetic than MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 20, 2010 11:40 AM ET
Situational awareness: being aware of what's happening around you to understand how information, events, and your own actions will impact your goals and objectives.
This is how Wikipedia defines this concept that's been bandied about a lot lately, since those Northwest (DAL) pilots got distracted on their laptops and flew wayyyy beyond Minneapolis, their destination. Whatever the rogue navigators were viewing or doing on their mini computer screens, they were oblivious MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 28, 2009 2:45 PM ET
There comes a fork in every career. Should I do this or do that?
Charting a successful career was the topic on Tuesday at Wal-Mart (WMT), where the company's female officers staged a "Fortune Most Powerful Women" event and I interviewed two stars of the 2009 MPWomen rankings: Wal-Mart EVP of People Susan Chambers and Xerox (XRX) CEO Ursula Burns.
Their bios tell the paths they chose. More inspiring and instructive, as MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 15, 2009 2:40 PM ET
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
In a funny and candid interview, Google VP Marissa Mayer explains how she got to the top. Watch
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns shares how she once accepted a job with Dell but ended up staying with Xerox. Watch
Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
