The number of women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies increased this week when IBM (No. 7 in The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity) announced that Virginia M. Rometty, currently senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy, would succeed retiring CEO Samuel J. Palmisano. When Rometty officially assumes the position on Jan. 1, she will become the 17th woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the first woman leader in IBM’s 100-year history.
Other Fortune 500 female CEOs include: Irene B. Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods (No. 9 in The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity); Angela F. Braly, WellPoint (No. 36); Beth Mooney, KeyCorp (one of Fair360, formerly DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies); Ursula M. Burns, Xerox; Lynn L. Elsenhans, Sunoco; Andrea Jung, Avon; Ellen J. Kullman, DuPont; Gracia C. Martore, Gannett; Denise M. Morrison, Campbell Soup; Deanna M. Mulligan, Guardian; Carol M. Meyrowitz, TJX; Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo; Debra L. Reed, Sempra Energy; Laura J. Sen, BJ’s Wholesale Club; Meg Whitman, HP; and Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland. (Health Care Service Corporation, No. 26 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 list, is not a Fortune 500 company but also has a woman CEO, Pat Hemingway Hall.) Heather Bresch will assume the role of CEO at Mylan, effective Jan. 1, bringing the number of women CEOs to 18.
Fortune 500 CEOs remain primarily white and male. Rometty’s addition to this listing results in only an incremental shift (a 1.0 percent gain to total 3.4 percent; 3.6 percent if including Bresch) in the percentage of female Fortune 500 CEOs. There are four Black (0.8 percent), nine Asian (1.8 percent) and five Latino (1 percent) CEOs. They include: Kenneth Chenault, strong>AMERICAN EXPRESS (No. 13); Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck & Co. (No.15); and Ajay Banga, MasterCard (No. 31).
