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The 19 Most Powerful Women In Business 2017: CEOs And More With Ambitious Goals

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POST WRITTEN BY
Amy Merrick
This article is more than 6 years old.

This year’s top women are taking the lead in navigating a rapidly changing business landscape.

The 19 business leaders on Forbes’ annual list of the Most Powerful Women in the World are driving their companies through social and technological changes such as consumers adopting healthier habits and nations setting ambitious goals for renewable energy.

As they tackle these challenges, the executives also are developing opportunities for other women to follow in their footsteps. “Cultivating diversity isn’t about taking a gender count when you walk into a room,” says General Motors CEO Mary Barra, at No. 5 the highest-ranking business leader on this year’s list, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “It’s about valuing all ideas and building teams with different backgrounds and experiences.”

 Barra, who has been CEO since 2014, is known for making tough decisions, such as pulling GM back from less profitable international markets. With her announcement that GM plans to move toward 100% electric cars, she is adapting to a new reality as countries such as France and the U.K. announce plans to ban gas and diesel automobiles — with China and India likely to join them.

Similarly, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, who moves up from No. 14 to No. 11 this year, is responding to the long-term decline in soda drinking in the U.S. by adding to her company’s healthier product lines. Adjusting to shifts in consumer habits also makes Pepsi a more attractive partner to Whole Foods, recently purchased by Amazon and poised to shake up the grocery industry.

A pair of newcomers to the list are steering giant businesses toward new growth markets. No. 23, Isabelle Kocher, became CEO of France-based Engie, the world’s largest non-state-owned electricity company, in May 2016. She is rapidly transitioning Engie away from fossil fuels and toward solar energy, wind power and electric-vehicle charging stations. No. 29, Emma Walmsley, named CEO of GlaxoSmithKline in April, is shifting more of the pharmaceutical company’s drug development toward promising areas such as oncology and immune-inflammation therapy. While she fights downward pressure on drug prices, Walmsley also is navigating Brexit, preparing a backup system to test drugs in the EU if Britain is unable to successfully negotiate a new trade deal.

See Full List: 100 World's Most Powerful Women

On the rise is Rosalind Brewer, the new chief operating officer at Starbucks and former CEO of Sam’s Club, who moves up from No. 57 to No. 44 on the Forbes list this year. Brewer is the first woman, and first African-American, to hold the position at Starbucks. She says she was attracted to the coffee company in part because of its commitment to diversity. With Brewer’s help, the company’s effort to encourage advancement for all employees will only grow stronger.

Most Powerful Women In Business

No. 1: Mary Barra, CEO, GM

No. 2: Indra Nooyi, CEO, Pepsico

No. 3: Marillyn Hewson, CEO, Lockheed Martin

No. 4: Isabelle Kocher, CEO, Engie

No. 5: Emma Walmsley, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline

No. 6: Rosalind Brewer, COO, Starbucks

No. 7: Phebe Novakovic, CEO, General Dynamics

No. 8: Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Cofounder-Chair, Sovico Holdings

No. 9: Lisa Davis, CEO, Siemens

No. 10: Guler Sabanci, Chair, Sabanci Holdings

No. 11: Feng Ying Wang, CEO, Great Wall Motor China

No. 12: Dong Mingzhu, Chair, Gree Electric

No. 13: Melanie Kreis, CFO, Deutsche Post

No. 14: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chair, Biocon

No. 15: Lynn J. Good, Chair-President, Duke Energy

No. 16: Geisha Williams, CEO, PG&E

No. 17: Raja Easa Al Gurg, Managing Director, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group

No. 18: Debra Cafaro, CEO, Ventas

No. 19: Beth Brooke-Marcini, Global Vice Chair, EY