Most Powerful Women in the World List
The annual Forbes ranking 2012 showcases women making a difference in the
realms of politics, business, finance, entertainment and philanthropy. Here are
the top 100–
1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany2. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, United States
3. Dilma Rousseff, President, Brazil
4. Melinda Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
5. Jill Abramson, Executive Editor, New York Times Co.
6. Sonia Gandhi, President, Indian National Congress, India
7. Michelle Obama, First Lady, United States
8. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
9. Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States
10. Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
11. Oprah Winfrey, Entrepreneur, Personality
12. Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo
13. Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO, Kraft Foods
14. Lady Gaga, Musician, Philanthropist
15. Virginia Rometty, President and CEO, IBM
16. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President, Argentina
17. Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox
18. Meg Whitman, CEO, Hewlett-Packard
19. Aung San Suu Kyi, Chair and Parliamentarian, National League for Democracy, Burma
20. Maria das Graças Silva Foster, CEO, Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil
21. Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo
22. Anne Sweeney, Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks, and President, Disney/ABC Television Group, Walt Disney
23. Diane Sawyer, Anchor of World News, ABC, Walt Disney
24. Angela Braly, CEO, WellPoint
25. Susan Wojcicki, Senior Vice President, Google
26. Queen Elizabeth II, Monarch, United Kingdom
27. Julia Gillard, Prime Minister, Australia
28. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, United States
29. Arianna Huffington, Editor-In-Chief, Huffington Post Media Group, AOL
30. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister, Thailand
31. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Service, United States
32. Beyonce Knowles, Actress, Entrepreneur, Musician
33. Diane Von Furstenberg, Owner, Fashion Designer, Diane von Furstenberg Studio, L.P.
34. Helen Clark, Administrator, U.N. Development Programme
35. Georgina Rinehart, Executive Chairman, Hancock Prospecting
36. Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony
37. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
38. Jennifer Lopez, Actress, Musician, Personality, Philanthropist
39. Sheri McCoy, CEO, Avon Products
40. Shakira, Musician, Personality, Philanthropist
41. Mary Barra, SVP, Global Product Development, General Motors
42. Zhang Xin & family, Cofounder, CEO, Soho China Ltd.
43. Alice Walton, Chairman, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
44. Laura Lang, CEO, Time Inc., Time Warner
45. Angela Ahrendts, CEO, Burberry Group
46. Sue Naegle, President, HBO Entertainment, Time Warner Cable
47. Ellen DeGeneres, Comedian, Personality, Philanthropist
48. Safra Catz, President, CFO, Oracle
49. Laurene Powell Jobs & family, Founder and Chair, Emerson Collective
50. Rosalind Brewer, President and CEO, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Stores
51. Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief, Vogue, Conde Nast Publications, Inc.
52. Helene Gayle, President, CEO, CARE
53. Christiane Amanpour, Chief International Correspondent, CNN, Time Warner
54. Rosalia Mera, Investor, Philanthropist
55. Cynthia Carroll, CEO, Anglo American
56. Cher Wang, Co-founder and Chair, HTC
57. Abigail Johnson, President, Fidelity Personal, Workplace and Institutional Services, Fidelity Investments
58. Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Cisco Systems
59. Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank
60. Gail Kelly, CEO, Westpac Banking Group
61. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, United States
62. Ellen Kullman, Chairman and CEO, EI du Pont de Nemours
63. Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University
64. Shari Arison, Investor, Philanthropist
65. Mary Schapiro, Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission, United States
66. Angelina Jolie, Actress, Philanthropist
67. Miuccia Prada, Owner, Fashion Designer, Prada
68. Carol Meyrowitz, CEO, TJX Cos
69. Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Programme, United Nations
70. Sue Gardner, Executive Director, WikiMedia Foundation
71. Joyce Banda, President, Malawi
72. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director, World Bank
73. Bonnie Hammer, Chairman, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios, NBCUniversal, Comcast
74. Chua Sock Koong, Group CEO, SingTel
75. Sofia Vergara, Actress, Entrepreneur
76. Ho Ching, CEO, Temasek
77. Tina Brown, Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Beast and Newsweek, IAC/InterActiveCorp.
78. J.K. Rowling, Author
79. Chan Laiwa & family, Philanthropist
80. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder, Chair, Biocon Ltd.
81. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, Nigeria
82. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Liberia
83. Gisele Bundchen, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Supermodel
84. Mary Meeker, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
85. Shaikha Al-Bahar, CEO-Kuwait, National Bank of Kuwait
86. Marjorie Scardino, CEO, Pearson
87. Solina Chau, Director, Li Ka Shing Foundation
88. Jan Fields, President, McDonald's USA, McDonald's
89. Weili Dai, Co-founder, Marvell Technology Group
90. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President, CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
91. Sun Yafang, Chair, Huawei Technologies
92. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates
93. Guler Sabanci, Chairman and Managing Director, Sabanci Holding
94. Greta Van Susteren, Anchor, FOX News, News Corp
95. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, JPMorgan Chase
96. Mindy Grossman, CEO, HSN
97. Patricia Woertz, Chairman, CEO and President, Archer Daniels Midland
98. Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
99. Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair - Public Policy, Ernst & Young
100. Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani, Chair, Qatar Museums Authority, Qatar
