Tech’s most powerful women
Forbes has listed the 100 powerful women in the world, and amidst the celebrities, bankers and politicians, leaders in tech represent.
The list, compiled by Forbes, looks at the 100 most influential women from seven categories or power bases: billionaires, business, lifestyle, media, NGOs, politics and technology.
Each candidate was weighted according to three metrics, namely: money, media presence and sphere of influence and impact.
Politics dominated the upper-reaches of the list once again, with German chancellor, Angela Merkel retaining the top spot as most powerful woman in the world – the ninth time she’s claimed the title, and the tenth time she’s been on the list (of the eleven times Forbes has published the ranking).
Merkel was successfully re-elected to Germany’s prime position in the latter parts of 2013.
The newly-elected chair of the United States Federal Reserve, Janet Yellend, swept in as the second most powerful woman in the world. She is the first woman to head what is arguably the most influential central bank in the world.
Brazillian president, Dilma Rousseff slipped to fourth overall from second position last year – while richest man in the world, Bill Gates‘ other half and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation clmbed to third.
US political leading ladies, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton rounded out the top 5 – in fourth and fifth, respectively – before tech’s first showing in Sandberg at number six.
Top 10 most powerful women
| # | Name | Role |
| 1 | Angela Merkel | Germany Vice Chancellor |
| 2 | Janet Yellend | US Federal Reserve Chair |
| 3 | Melinda Gates | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-Chair |
| 4 | Dilma Rousseff | Brazil President |
| 5 | Christine Lagarde | IMF MD |
| 6 | Hillary Clinton | US Politician |
| 7 | Mary Barra | GM CEO |
| 8 | Michelle Obama | US First Lady |
| 9 | Sheryl Sandberg | Facebook COO |
| 10 | Virginia Rometty | IBM CEO |
The technology sector has a strong showing in powerful personalities, with 19 women appearing on the list.
In a change from last year’s rankings, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is no longer the only woman in tech to make it onto the top 10.
Sandberg slipped from number 6 last year to number 9, ahead of top 10 newcomer, Virginia Rometty, who heads up IBM. Despite IBM’s struggles, Rometty has been hailed as an excellent leader for the company.
Closely behind Sandberg and Rometty is YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki (11th), Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer (18th) who climbed significantly on the list from 32nd overall in 2013.
While Mayer has not quite been able to light the massive fire under Yahoo that is needed to turn the company around, the former Google exec spent more than $100 million on 21 companies last year, and has definitely shifted the company’s operations in a more positive direction.
The top 10 power women in tech all ranked within the top 50 of overall powerful women, according to Forbes.
Tech’s top 10 power women
| # | Name |
Role |
| 9 | Sheryl Sandberg | Facebook COO |
| 10 | Virginia Rometty | IBM CEO |
| 11 | Susan Wojcicki | YouTube CEO, Google |
| 18 | Marissa Mayer | Yahoo CEO |
| 20 | Meg Whitman | HP CEO |
| 22 | Ursula Barnes | Xerox CEO |
| 24 | Safra Catz | Oracle CFO |
| 29 | Laurene Powell | Apple Investor |
| 37 | Renee James | Intel President |
| 48 | Amy Hood | Microsoft CFO |
The full list can be found on Forbes.
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