Top Female CEOs of 2007

2007 might not have been a good year for the market overall, but there is some good news. This past year, Fortune 500 companies with a female CEO at the helm did better than ever.

A recent story by Del Jones of USA Today, entitled “Female CEOs Make More Gains in 2007,” analyzed financial performance data from Fortune 500 companies in 2007 and concluded with some encouraging news for women in business. First, women-led companies increased from 9 to a record high of 12 this past year, making up 2.4% of the Fortune 500. That might not seem like enough, but the better these women perform, the more they will lay the groundwork for future female CEOs.

There’s more good news. For the second year in a row, stock performance of female-led companies at least mirrored that of companies led by men. While women also lead many medium and small businesses in the United States and abroad, this study focused only on the largest public companies. However, these highly visible companies set the trends in business that investors and entrepreneurs take note of, and so the performance of these female CEOs is carefully monitored by industry observers.

The Glass Hammer would like to recognize the top six highest performing female CEOs on 2007, calculated according to the methodology of the USA Today study, which measured the overall stock price gain of female-run Fortune 500 companies.

1. Patricia Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland. ADM stock climbed 45% in 2007 with Ms. Woertz at the helm, making her company the top performing female-led company in the Fortune 500. Appointed to run the $36 billion agribusiness conglomerate in 2006, Ms. Woertz used her background in the petroleum industry to make the company a leader in alterative energy by transforming organic material into ethanol fuel and biodiesel. Way to go green and make green!
2. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo. Pepsi stock rose 21% in 2007, under Ms. Nooyi’s leadership. Appointed as CEO of the soft-drink giant in 2006, Ms. Nooyi was CFO and President at Pepsi before reaching the top job. Ms. Nooyi was responsible for the company’s $108 billion stock market valuation as well as implementing a company wide diversity initiative that is looked to as a model by many other large companies.
3. Andrea Jung, Avon Products. Avon stock climbed 20% in 2007, with Ms. Jung as CEO. Appointed CEO in 1999 and Chairman in 2001, Ms. Jung helped the global beauty company generate over $9 billion in revenue last year. In addition to developing new growth strategies and brand initiative, Ms. Jung is responsible for increasing Avon’s charitable work with breast cancer research and providing opportunities for women in developing countries.
4. Meg Whitman, Ebay. Ms. Whitman became head of this online auction company in 1998, but it did not grow large enough to be a part of the Fortune 500 until 2005. Still, since going public in 1998, the company’s stock has risen 1,549%, making Ms. Whitman the all time career leader among female CEOs, as measured by the performance of their company’s stock. Beating back competition from Yahoo! And Amazon and trying to aggressively weed out fakes has been a recipe for success for Ms. Whitman, whose personal holdings in the company are valued at over $1.6 billion.
5. Christina Gold, Western Union. Under Ms. Gold’s leadership, Western Union’s stock was up 8% in 2007. She became CEO in 2006 after Western Union was spun off from First Data. As the head of the $4 billion money transfer, bill pay and prepaid services company, she has helped to expand the company, which now provides services in over 200 countries and territories.

Congratulations to these high-performing female CEOs in 2007. In a bad year for many companies, these women proved that they have the experience, wisdom and insight to grow and improve their companies and increase stock prices, even in an uncertain economy. We look forward to hearing about the next generation of female CEOs following in their footsteps.