It’s official: There are more female CEOs on the Fortune 500 this year than at any point in the history of the list.
Last month, Fortune released its annual ranking of the 500 largest companies in the United States, which, in recent years, has become a barometer for the state of gender equality in the American C-Suite. And this year brought big news: While the number of female CEOs on the Fortune 500 dropped precipitously in 2018 to just 24, it shot up in 2019 to a record 33.
New hires contributed to some of that increase. Corie Barry, for instance, transitioned from CFO to CEO of Best Buy earlier this year. Mary Winston, a member of the board of Bed Bath & Beyond, was recently appointed to interim CEO. Northrup Grumman named Kathy Warden CEO in the past year, and Land O’ Lakes did the same with Beth Ford.
Two longtime female CEOs hit the list this year because the companies they have been leading surpassed the Fortune 500’s revenue cut-off of $5.575 billion: Laura Alber, CEO of Williams-Sonoma, shepherded her company to #495 on the list. And Lisa Su grew the revenues of Advanced Micro Devices 21%, elevating the company to #460 on the list.
And then of course there are the women who have been holding down their spot on the list for years: Mary Barra of General Motors, Mary Dillon of Ulta Beauty, Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin and Ginni Rometty of IBM, to name a few.
As a woman-founded-and-led company, Boardroom Insiders takes a special interest in the success of other women in the business world. (Each year, we publish a list of female CIOs to gauge progress in the tech industry.) As a company focused on executive intelligence, we relish the opportunity to craft insightful profiles on each of these women and explore how they’re tackling business challenges. We know we are a long way from gender parity in the highest levels of the C-suite, but a record year marks progress we can all celebrate.
Here’s a full list of the 33 female CEOs of the Fortune 500:
- #13 — Mary Barra, General Motors
- #33 — Gail Boudreaux, Anthem
- #38 — Ginni Rometty, IBM
- #60 — Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin
- #74 — Corie Barry, Best Buy (NEW ADDITION)
- #81 — Safra Catz, Oracle
- #92 — Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics
- #99 — Patricia Griffith, Progressive
- #108 — Kathy Warden, Northrop Grumman (NEW ADDITION)
- #126 — Lynn Good, Duke Energy
- #156 — Michelle Gass, Kohl’s
- #167 — Vicki Hollub, Occidental Petroleum
- #173 — Margaret Keane, Synchrony Financial
- #191 — Christine Leahy, CDW (NEW ADDITION)
- #209 — Barbara Rentler, Ross Stores
- #212 — Beth Ford, Land O’ Lakes
- #244 — Deanna Mulligan, Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America
- #251 — Anna Manning, Reinsurance Group of America
- #258 — Mary Winston, Bed Bath & Beyond (NEW ADDITION)
- #261 — Jill Soltau, J.C. Penney (NEW ADDITION)
- #331 — Kathryn Marinello, Hertz Global Holdings
- #347 — Mary Laschender, Veritiv
- #351 — Teresa Rasmussen, Thrivent Financial (NEW ADDITION)
- #356 — Penny Pennington, Jones Financial (NEW ADDITION)
- #362 — Joey Wat, Yum China
- #391 — Michele Buck, Hershey
- #413 — Beth Mooney, KeyCorp
- #423 — Kathleen Mazzarella, Graybar Electric
- #426 — Lori Ryerkerk, Celanese (NEW ADDITION)
- #440 — Patricia Poppe, CMS Energy
- #460 — Lisa Su, Advanced Micro Devices (NEW ADDITION)
- #449 — Mary Dillon, Ulta Beauty
- #495 — Laura Alber, Williams-Sonoma
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