"[Now] is the right time to bring you Fortune's first-ever list of the 50 Most Powerful Women... because women, at last, are achieving profound power in the most important and influential industries," Fortune wrote at the time. Women in business have certainly come a long way since then. No stat proves that better than the share of CEOs on the list. That first year, 15 CEOs made the inaugural ranking of 50. This year, women with that title represent well over half of the larger list of 100. Fifteen of the CEOs on this year's list are brand new to the ranking, while others are stalwarts who have retained power far beyond the average tenure of Fortune 500 male CEOs (7.2 years) and female CEOs (4.5 years). Our new No. 1, General Motors chair and CEO Mary Barra, is one of those mainstays; she's led the automaker for 10 years and landed on our MPW list 13 times.
Using the format that we introduced last year, the 2024 MPW list ranks the 100 Most Powerful Women globally, reflecting corporations' global scope and the nature of executives' work, which spans the planet. The list features women from six continents, 18 countries and territories, and 14 different industries, proving there is no one-size-fits-all approach to reaching the pinnacle of business.
This story is from the October - November 2024 edition of Fortune US.
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This story is from the October - November 2024 edition of Fortune US.
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