The 2024 Fortune 100 Most Powerful People in Business list includes 18 women, marking a notable achievement in the ongoing effort for gender equality in corporate leadership.
These women have made contributions across various industries, including finance, technology, healthcare, and retail, demonstrating their leadership in shaping global markets and leading major corporations.
While their inclusion highlights the increasing influence of women in top business roles, the list also shows the continuing gender imbalance at the highest levels of business leadership. Despite the progress made, the number of women on the list remains limited, emphasizing the ongoing challenges they face in achieving equal representation.
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Here are the most 18 powerful women in business
1. Mary Barra – Chair and CEO, General Motors
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors since 2014, has reshaped the company’s focus on electric vehicles and sustainability. Under her leadership, GM reported $171.8 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year, a 10% increase, and reached its strongest financial position in decades. Barra has restructured the company’s operations and product lines to align with its EV goals, aiming for a production capacity of 1 million EVs annually by 2025. In 2023, she also led GM through critical negotiations with the United Auto Workers, resolving a costly strike. Her impact earned her the top spot on Fortune’s 2024 Most Powerful Women in Business list.
2. Jane Fraser – CEO, Citigroup
Jane Fraser, the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank, has been steering Citigroup through significant changes since becoming CEO in 2021. Her tenure has focused on simplifying operations and driving long-term growth, including a multi-year strategy to modernise the bank for the digital era. Fraser led a major reorganisation that sold nine of the bank’s 14 international consumer franchises, resulting in 7,000 layoffs in the first quarter. Citigroup anticipates further job cuts over the next two years, with up to $1 billion in severance and restructuring costs. The bank faced challenges, including a $135.6 million fine from regulators in July, while its stock showed gains year over year despite a drop in net income from $14.8 billion in 2022 to $9.2 billion in 2023. Fraser, a 19-year company veteran and former McKinsey partner, continues to reshape the bank’s structure and strategy in response to evolving industry demands.
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3. Julie Sweet – CEO, Accenture
Julie Sweet leads Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms, as Chair and CEO. Under her leadership, the company, with 774,000 employees, is the largest in the Fortune Global 500 led by a woman. Accenture reported $64.9 billion in revenue for fiscal 2024, a 1% increase from the prior year. The firm is driving growth in AI, recording $3 billion in generative AI bookings in fiscal 2024, up from $300 million the previous year. Despite this, Accenture revised its revenue forecast in March 2024 due to economic uncertainty. In September, the company adjusted its promotion timeline from December to June 2025 to align better with client planning cycles. Sweet, CEO since 2019, also serves on the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees.
4. Emma Walmsley – CEO, GSK
Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK, has led the company’s efforts to drive growth over the past eight years. Under her leadership, GSK has achieved significant milestones, including the success of Arexvy, its RSV vaccine, which generated $1.6 billion in sales within a year of its 2023 launch. Sales of Shingrix, its shingles vaccine, have also contributed to the company’s performance, with GSK reporting $37.5 billion in revenue in 2023, a 3.4% increase from the previous year. Walmsley also serves as an independent director at Microsoft.
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5. Safra Catz – CEO, Oracle
Safra Catz joined Oracle in 1999 and became CEO in 2014, driving the company’s focus on cloud technology and business software solutions. Under her leadership, Oracle has pursued strategic acquisitions to expand its cloud offerings. Recognising the enduring demand for Oracle’s database software, Catz forged partnerships with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services, allowing customers to integrate Oracle products across these platforms. These collaborations have sparked investor interest, especially after Oracle reported $13.3 billion in revenue for the quarter ending September, a 7% year-over-year increase. Analysts predict double-digit growth. Oracle is also advancing in AI with new deals, including providing cloud infrastructure for OpenAI’s model training.
6. Lisa Su – Chair and CEO, AMD
Lisa Su has led AMD as CEO since October 2014 and became Chair in March 2022, driving the company’s transformation into a significant competitor in the semiconductor industry. Her leadership has steered AMD into new areas such as gaming, high-performance computing, and AI solutions, diversifying beyond PC microprocessors. A key focus now is the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with over 90% market share. Despite this, AMD’s Instinct MI300 chip generated over $1 billion in Q2 sales. With $22.7 billion in revenue last year and the acquisition of AI firm Silo, AMD is positioning itself to gain ground in the competitive data centre market.
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7. Daniella Amodei – Co-Founder and President, Anthropic
Daniella Amodei is the co-founder and President of Anthropic, an AI research and safety company focused on building reliable and steerable AI systems with a strong emphasis on ethical practices. Founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniella Amodei, Anthropic emerged after they departed from OpenAI over concerns about the company’s direction following Microsoft’s investment. Since its inception, Anthropic has secured $4 billion from Amazon and $2 billion from Google and is now seeking fresh funding at a $40 billion valuation. Its Claude chatbot competes directly with offerings from OpenAI and Google, and the company is expanding into AI solutions for enterprises.
8. Grace Wang – Luxshare Precision Industry
Grace Wang co-founded Luxshare Precision Industry in 2004 with her brother after a decade at Foxconn, an Apple supplier. Under her leadership, Luxshare has grown into a key manufacturer of Apple products, including Watches, AirPods, Vision Pros, and iPhones. In 2023, the company ranked No. 488 on the Fortune Global 500 list with $32.8 billion in revenue, challenging Foxconn’s position in the industry.
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9. Carol Tomé – CEO, UPS
Carol Tomé became the CEO of UPS in June 2020, following her tenure as Executive Vice President and CFO at The Home Depot. Taking the helm during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tomé has focused on diversifying UPS’s revenue streams to counter competition from Amazon and FedEx. In September 2024, UPS acquired two companies to expand its healthcare logistics business, targeting $20 billion in revenue within two years. The company also secured a significant air cargo deal with USPS and acquired Happy Returns, a technology provider for managing product returns.
10. Gail Boudreaux – President and CEO, Elevance Health
Gail Boudreaux has served as President and CEO of Elevance Health (formerly Anthem Inc.) since 2017, after leading UnitedHealthcare for six years. She has driven the company’s focus on expanding access to healthcare services, helping Elevance achieve $170 billion in revenue in 2023, a 9.3% increase despite challenges like Medicaid redetermination. In 2024, Boudreaux’s strategy of diversification beyond insurance into healthcare services paid off, with the company’s second-quarter profits exceeding $2.3 billion. In February 2023, she became the first woman to chair the Business Council, succeeding Satya Nadella.
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11. Abigail Johnson – Chair and CEO, Fidelity Investments
Abigail Johnson has been the Chair and CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014, succeeding her father, Edward “Ned” Johnson III. Under her leadership, Fidelity has grown significantly, managing trillions in assets. She has driven key innovations, including a product that lets employers match employees’ student loan payments to retirement accounts and the launch of one of the industry’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded products in January 2024. In late 2023, Fidelity split its retail investing business into separate brokerage and wealth management divisions. These strategic moves contributed to a record revenue of $28.2 billion in 2023, marking a 12% increase from the previous year.
12. Thasunda Brown Duckett – President and CEO, TIAA
Thasunda Brown Duckett has been the President and CEO of TIAA since May 2021, following her tenure as CEO of Chase Consumer Banking at JPMorgan Chase. At TIAA, she oversees $1.3 trillion in assets and focuses on managing retirement funds for millions of educators, nonprofit workers, and institutions. Duckett is a strong advocate for financial literacy, retirement readiness, and closing the racial wealth gap in retirement savings and investing. TIAA has expanded its services from higher education and nonprofit 403(b) plans to include corporate 401(k)s. She is one of only two Black female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies.
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13. Ana Patricia Botin – Executive Chair, Banco Santander
Ana Patricia Botín has been the Executive Chair of Banco Santander since 2014, leading the bank’s global expansion and transformation. Under her leadership, Banco Santander became one of the most profitable banks, serving over 142 million customers across Europe and the Americas. She is the fourth generation of her family to lead the Spanish bank and sits on the board of Coca-Cola and the advisory board of MIT. With plans to expand Banco Santander’s U.S. presence, particularly in digital consumer offerings, Botín has steered the company through challenges like ultralow interest rates. Despite a 35% decline in stock value since her appointment, Banco Santander posted a record $12 billion net profit in 2023, a 15% increase from 2022.
14. Helen Wong – CEO, OCBC
Helen Wong began her career in 1984 as a management trainee at OCBC, Singapore’s second-largest bank. After nearly four decades, she became the first woman to lead the bank. Wong’s journey included a leadership role at HSBC as CEO of Greater China. Under her leadership, OCBC has thrived, benefiting from significant wealth inflows into Singapore, and reported a record net profit of $5.2 billion in 2023.
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15. Mellody Hobson – Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
Mellody Hobson is co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments, a firm she has been with for nearly three decades. A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, she serves on the boards of Starbucks and JPMorgan Chase. Despite the political climate causing some companies to scale back diversity efforts, Hobson remains committed to opening doors for underrepresented groups. Hobson became co-CEO of Ariel Investments, the first Black-owned mutual fund company in the U.S., in 2019. She was the only Black female chair of a Fortune 500 company when she led Starbucks in 2021, before stepping down during a CEO transition in September. Hobson secured Chipotle’s Brian Niccol as Starbucks’ new CEO and launched Project Black under Ariel Alternatives to invest in middle-market businesses and address the U.S. racial wealth gap. Ariel Investments now manages $14.5 billion in assets.
16. Catherine MacGregor – CEO, ENGIE
Catherine MacGregor became CEO of ENGIE on January 1, 2021, leading the company through its transition to renewable energy while ensuring reliable energy solutions. With a focus on growing renewable energies and energy infrastructure, such as cooling and heating networks, MacGregor brings extensive experience from her previous roles at TechnipFMC and Schlumberger. ENGIE recorded €82.6 billion ($92.3 billion) in revenue in 2023, a decline from the previous year. Despite lower market prices in Europe, MacGregor raised the company’s 2024 guidance. ENGIE, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045, delayed some hydrogen projects from 2030 to 2035 due to slow market progress.
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17. Phebe Novakovic – Chair and CEO, General Dynamics
Phebe Novakovic has served as Chair and CEO of General Dynamics since 2013, leading the company to significant growth and success in the aerospace and defence sector. With a background as the daughter of an Air Force officer and experience with the CIA, Novakovic has overseen major contracts, including more than $1 billion in orders from the U.S. Army and Navy in 2022. In 2024, General Dynamics secured a $1.3 billion contract for armoured vehicles for Austria and a $922 million deal to modernize U.S. Central Command’s IT infrastructure. Novakovic also chairs the Association of the United States Army and sits on JPMorgan Chase’s board.
18. Tricia Griffith – President and CEO, Progressive Corporation
Tricia Griffith has served as President and CEO of Progressive Corporation since 2016, leading the company through a period of innovation and growth. She joined Progressive in 1988 as a claims representative and held various leadership positions, including Chief Human Resources Officer and President of Claims and Customer Operations before she was appointed CEO. Under her leadership, Progressive has embraced technology and data analytics to enhance customer experience and streamline operations, contributing to a 25% revenue increase in 2023. The company has also announced plans to hire over 10,000 people. In addition, Griffith spearheaded the launch of the Move Forward and Live Fully platform, supporting community initiatives such as vehicle donations to veterans, grants to small businesses, and affordable housing projects. This year, she led a group of businesswomen investing in a bid to bring a National Women’s Soccer League team to Cleveland.
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