On 2nd October 2024, Fortune, an American global business magazine, released the latest list of ‘2024 100 Most Powerful Women (MPW) in Business’, which has featured 100 leading business women across various sectors of business such as: finance, technology, health care, telecommunication, retail, energy, and other industries.
- Mary Barra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the United States of America (USA)-based General Motors (GM) has topped the 2024 MPW in Business list and has featured on the list for the 13th time.
- Among the 55 women currently leading Fortune 500 companies, Barra is one of only 9, leading the automaking company GM for 10 years.
- As per the latest rankings, Karen S. Lynch, President and CEO of Customer Value Store (CVS) Health Corporation, a leading health solution company in the USA, has been ranked at 2nd position globally, followed by Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup Inc., a multinational investment bank and financial services company based in the New York City, the USA, Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture Plc (the USA) ranked at 3rd and 4th position respectively.
About 2024 MPW in Business:
i.It is the 27th edition of the Fortune MPW in business, and has featured women from 6 continents, 19 countries and territories, and 14 different industries.
ii.The list is compiled by the editors of Fortune based on factors like: size of the company and health, their career path, influence beyond their organisation, and how they wield power.
iii.This latest edition of MPW in Business has featured 65 women CEOs, of which 15 CEOs have debuted in the rankings such as: Mitsuko Tottori, CEO of Japan Airlines and Bonnie Chan, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.
iv.It has featured 12 women leaders in business from the East Asia region, followed by 8 each from France and the United Kingdom (UK), 3 each from Australia and Singapore, and two each from Spain, Brazil, and Germany.
Top 5 MPW in Business:
| Rank | Name | Designation and Company Name | Country Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary Barra | Chairman and CEO of GM | The United States of America (USA) |
| 2 | Karen S.Lynch | President and CEO, CVS Health | USA |
| 3 | Jane Fraser | CEO, Citigroup | USA |
| 4 | Julie Sweet | Chair and CEO, Accenture | USA |
| 5 | Emma Walmsley | CEO, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) | The United Kingdom (UK) |
Note: The women on the 2024 list will attend the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California, the USA.
Key Findings:
i.Though the list is mainly dominated by women CEOs, a group of 9 high-profile Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) such as Susan Li (21st),CFO of Meta (formerly known as Facebook) , Anat Ashkenazi (22nd) new CFO at Alphabet, among others, represent a growing share of the list.
ii.As per the 2024 list, 26 women business leaders are from the financial sector, followed by Technology (21), Energy (8), Retailing (8), health care (7), among others.
iii.Abigail Johnson (ranked at 13th spot), a 3rd –Generation CEO of Fidelity Investments, has appeared on the MPW list the most times i.e. 24 times, followed by Safra Catz (ranked at 7th position) and Ana Botin of Santander (ranked at 15th spot), appeared on the MPW list for 19 times and 17 times respectively.
iv.This year’s ranking includes 20 women business leaders(up from 16 in 2023) from the Asia-Pacific region, these women have appeared on Fortune’s inaugural edition of MPW Asia list.
Fortune MPW Asia 2024 List:
i.The MPW Asia 2024 List has featured executives from 11 Asia-Pacific countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, among others.
ii.The list includes 53 CEOs, 26 Chairpersons, and 11 Chief Financial Officers(CFOs) and the list is topped by Grace Wang, Chairwoman and CEO, Luxshare Precision Industry, China.
iii.The list include some of the prominent Indian women business leaders like: Isha Ambani, Non-Executive Director, Reliance Retail; Roshni Nadar, Chairperson of HCL Technologies; Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President and Managing Director (MD) of Meta India, Arundhati Bhattacharya, former Chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI) and chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India; Falguni Nayar, CEO of Nykaa, Vishakha mulye, CEO of Aditya Birla Cap, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive chairperson of Biocon and Preetha Reddy, Vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals.
About Fortune Magazine:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Anastasia Nyrkovskaya
Headquarters- New York City, the United States of America (USA)
Established- 1929
