Postcards
Hear them roar: Global 500's women CEOs
July 12, 2011: 2:30 PM ETThis is a great summer for powerful women.
There are the obvious victories, like Christine Lagarde grabbing the reigns of the International Monetary Fund after Dominque Strauss-Kahn's tumultuous fall from grace.
And then there are the successes that you won't read about in the tabloids. Two Fortune 500 companies, Sempra Energy (SRE) and Guardian Life, promoted women to CEO this past month--Debra Reed and Deanna Mulligan, respectively. Campbell Soup (CPB), named Denise Morrison CEO and president, effective August 1, 2011. She happens to be the sister of Fortune Most Powerful Women CEO, Frontier Communications' (FTR) Maggie Wilderotter.
Is it 2006 all over again? That year, as the weather warmed, so did the icy resistance to female CEOs. Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (PEP), Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft (KFT), and Pat Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) were all named to the top jobs at their corporations and now top Fortune's Most Powerful Women list.
The recent appointments represent a major stride in diversity, although they're not as globally monumental as those in 2006. Fortune's just-released 2011 Global 500 list includes the same number of women CEOs this year as last.
Regardless, in the spirit of l'été des femmes, Fortune's gallery of 12 Global 500 women CEOs highlights remarkable accomplishments and the footprints they're leaving for future generations to follow.
-
Naval pioneer to globetrotting pharma exec
It still takes a powerful man to make room for a powerful woman. There is, of course, the stunning rise of Christine Lagarde at the International Monetary Fund. (Thank you, DSK.) And there is the presence of 12 women CEOs of Fortune Global 500 companies. (The 2011 Global 500 list hit the web today.)
Indeed, except for the rare corporation where a woman follows a woman CEO—Xerox (XRX) is the textbook MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 7, 2011 10:12 AM ET
| Men's Wearhouse fires the 'I guarantee it' guy | ||
| Men are disappearing from the workforce | ||
| U.S. oil boom helps thwart OPEC | ||
| Apple TV adds HBO Go and WatchESPN | ||
| Investors hold their breath for the Fed |
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at Yahoo, Marissa Mayer outlines her priorities both in and out of the company. Watch
Brenda Barnes famously quit a big job to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor. Watch
Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
Subscribe: RSS feed | email newsletter
The Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership brings rising-star women from countries around the world to the U.S. for three-week mentorships with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them Ursula Burns of Xerox, Laura Lang of Time Inc., Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, and Tory Burch.
Read more
