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  • 1. Ginni Rometty
    1. Ginni Rometty (chairman, CEO, and president, IBM) She has retained her position on the top, even after IBM’s revenues declined for the second consecutive year slipping 5% to $99.8 billion in 2013. This year Rometty has signed deal with Apple to provide IBM’s services on IOS devices.Reuters
  • 2. mary Barra
    2. Mary Barra (CEO, General Motors) A magnificent leap for Barra to the 2nd position from 29th last year. Unfortunately, GM faced its largest vehicle recall in 2014 after it found that around 29 million vehicles had faulty ignition switches that resulted in at least 13 deaths since 2005.Reuters
  • Indra Nooyi
    3. Indra Nooyi (chairman and CEO, PepsiCo) Indra Nooyi is the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. The company has 22 brands that have generated revenue over $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Its main products are Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi.Reuters
  • 4. Marillyn Hewson
    4. Marillyn Hewson (chairman, CEO and president, Lockheed Martin) Lockheed Martin is an aerospace company broadly into manufacturing, and research and development of products related to energy resources and aerospace technology. Hewson has retained her fourth position in 2014 and under her leadership the company posted profits in 2013.Reuters
  • 5. Ellen Kullman
    5. Ellen Kullman (chairman and CEO, DuPont) When she took over as the Chairman in 2009, DuPont’s shares declined to a ten-year low. Since then she lifted the company’s fortune by coming up with various products for nutrition and bio-science. DuPont’s market capital has more than doubled during Kullman’s tenure as CEO.Reuters
  • 6. Meg Whitman
    6. Meg Whitman (chairman, CEO, and president, Hewlett-Packard) Whitman climbs three positions higher to 6th ranking in 2014 from 9th position in 2013. However, HP has been struggling recently and has started laying off employees but its sales rose for the first time in over three years after Whitman took over in July.Reuters
  • 7. Irene Rosenfeld
    7. Irene Rosenfeld (chairman and CEO, Mondelez International) CEO of global snacking powerhouse with a variety of products like Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Jacob Coffee etc. The company’s sales and profits surged by 1% and 28% respectively in 2013. But, she has been facing weak consumer spending and pressure from shareholder Nelson Peltz who has planned to cut $1.5 billion in costs over next four years.Reuters
  • 8. Pat Woertz
    8. Pat Woertz (chairman, CEO, and president, Archer Daniels Midland) Agribusiness giant’s chief Pat Woertz slipped a rank lower from her seventh in 2013. The company suffered a blow last year when Australia rejected its bid to acquire GrainCorp Ltd. This led to a 27% drop in profits. However, with $89.8 billion annual revenue, ADM still is among the top grain traders, according to Forbes.Reuters
  • 9. Abigail Johnson
    9. Abigail Johnson (parent of Fidelity Investments and President, FMR) Fidelity Investments is the second largest US mutual fund company with $4.62-trillion worth assets in 2013. Abigail Johnson owns an estimated 24% stake in the company and is fourth richest women in USA with an estimated net worth of $16.8 billion.Reuters
  • 10. Sheryl Sandberg
    10. Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook) After publishing her bestselling book ‘Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to lead’ in 2013, Sandberg came became the face of corporate gender equality. Sandberg is reported to have fortune worth over $1.1 billion. Under her administration, Facebook has improved its performance and revamped its mobile strategy.Reuters

IBM boss Ginni Rometty, 57, has topped the Fortune list of world's most powerful businesswomen in 2014 and this, despite a fall in IBM's revenues recently. The list is compiled based on the size, importance and direction of the business these powerful women are managing.

While India-born CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, 58, occupied the third position, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg slipped to the tenth position from fifth last year, despite being the highest paid. 

Another big blow was to Marissa Mayer, 39, who slipped to 16th position from 8th position following doubts of the real value of Yahoo! of which she is the chief executive and president.

Marissa mayer
Mayer, 39, was struck in controversy after telling her staff to not work from home because it was bad for the business.Reuters

Ranking from 11th to 30th

Rank Name Company and Position
11 Phebe Novakovic Chairman, COO, General Dynamics
12 Carol Meyowitz CEO, TJX Companies
13 Lynn Good CEO, President, Duke Energy
14 Safra Catz Co-President, Wal-Mart Stores
15 Rosalind Brewer CEO, President, Wal Mart Stores
16 Marissa Mayer CEO, President, Yahoo
17 Ursula Burns Chairman, CEO, Xerox
18 Melanie Healey Group President, Proctor and Gamble
19 Susan Wojcicki CEO of Youtube, Google
20 Sandi Peterson Group Worldwide Chairman, Johnson & Johnson
21 Renee James President, Intel
22 Pam Nicholson President, CEO, Enterprise Holdings
23 Deb Henretta Group President of Global Beauty, Proctor and Gamble
24 Denise Morrison CEO, Campbell Soup
25 Gail Boudreaux CEO, United Healthcare, and EVP, UnitedHealth Group
26 Helena Foulkes President, CVS/pharmacy, and EVP, CVS Health
27 Sheri McCoy CEO, Avon Products
28 Gisel Ruiz EVP and COO, Wal-Mart U.S., Wal-Mart Stores
29 Angela Ahrendts SVP, Retail and Online Stores, Apple
30 Debra Reed CEO and Chairman, Sempra Energy