1. Angela Dorothea Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel, (born 17 July 1954) is the current and the first female Chancellor of Germany since November 2005. The physical chemist-turned-G8 leader has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU (Christian Social Union) parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.
In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and became the second woman to chair the G8 after Margret Thatcher. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been major issues of her tenure.
2. Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 2000, Clinton was elected as a U.S. Senator and election marked the first time an American First Lady had run for public office; Clinton was also the first female senator to represent the state.
3. Dilma Vana Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (born December 14, 1947) is the current and 36th President of Brazil. She is the first female holding the office. In 2005, she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff of Brazil, appointed by then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
4. Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born 28 October 1955) is an Indian-born American executive. She is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. She also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, and merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo. In 2007 she became the fifth CEO in PepsiCo’s 44-year history.
5. Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg (born 1969) is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and an internet entrepreneur. Before joining Facebook, Sheryl was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google. She also was involved in launching Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org. Prior to Google, Sandberg served as Chief of Staff for the United States Department of the Treasury. Sandberg enrolled graduated with a B.A in Economics from Harvard College in Economics and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics. In 1995, she earned her MBA from Harvard Business School.
6. Melinda Gates
Melinda Gates(born August 15, 1964), is an American philanthropist and wife of Bill Gates. She is the co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a former unit manager for several Microsoft products such as Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Encarta, and Expedia. She graduated as valedictorian from Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1982. Gates earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics from Duke University in 1986 and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1987, where she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
7. Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi (born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino on 9 December 1946) is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. After his assassination in 1991, she joined politics in 1997 and in 1998, she was elected as the leader of the Congress. Since then, Gandhi has been the President of the Indian National Congress Party.
8. Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband’s presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University. As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and an advocate for poverty awareness and healthy eating.
9. Christine Lagarde
Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (born 1 January 1956) is a French lawyer and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund since July 5, 2011 replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the aftermath of his sexual assault legal case.Previously, she held various ministerial posts in the French government: she was Minister of Economic Affairs, Finances and Industry and before that Minister of Agriculture and Fishing and Minister of Trade in the government of Dominique de Villepin. Lagarde was the first woman ever to become minister of Economic Affairs of a G8 economy, and is the first woman to ever head the IMF.In November 2009, The Financial Times ranked her the best minister of finance of the Eurozone.In 2009, Lagarde was ranked the 17th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.
10. Irene Rosenfeld
Irene Blecker Rosenfeld (born May 3, 1953) is the Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods.
Born in Brooklyn,she holds a Ph.D. in Marketing and Statistics, an MBA, and a B.A. degree in Psychology from Cornell University.
Rosenfeld has worked for 25 years in the food and beverage industry
In 2008 she was placed sixth on The Wall Street Journal’s “50 Women to Watch” list. In 2009, Forbes ranked her the 6th most powerful woman. In 2009, Rosenfeld earned total compensation of above $26 million. Forbes rated Rosenfeld 2nd on the top 10 most powerful women in October 2010.
Rosenfeld is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Cornell University Board of Trustees.
