Inspiring Female Leaders: 25 Most Powerful Woman In American business

Even though IBM’s revenue declined below $100bn, but Chairman and CEO Ginny Rometty grabbed the top spot for the third year in a row on Fortune’s 2014 list of the “World’s Most Powerful Women in Business.”

Magazine ranks Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, at age 39, the youngest member of the 2014 group — most powerful woman in American business, earned $24m.

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg is the highest paid member of the group, earning $38 million last year, slipped in the rankings from fifth position to 10th.

Rounding out the rest of the top 5 are: Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors ranked second this year up from the 29th position last year; PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi ranked third; Marillyn Hewson, CEO of aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin ranked fourth; and Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont ranked 5th most powerful businesswoman.

However, even with the considerable progress in women’s professional advancement, the list is a reminder that “There is still that element of glass ceiling”.

Only 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

In an effort to provide further clarity, magazine  editors compile the list based on four important criteria:

1. The size and importance of the woman’s business in the global economy
2. The health and direction of the business
3. The arc of the woman’s career
4. Social and cultural influence.

Here are the top 25 women in business:

1. Ginni Rometty: Chairman, CEO, and President of IBM

2. Mary Barra: CEO of General Motors

3. Indra Nooyi: Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo

4. Marillyn Hewson: Chairman, CEO, and President of Lockheed Martin

5. Ellen Kullman: Chairman and CEO of DuPont

6. Meg Whitman: Chairman, CEO, and President of Hewlett-Packard

7. Irene Rosenfeld: Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International

8. Pat Woertz: Chairman, CEO, and President of Archer Daniels Midland

9. Abigail Johnson: President of FMR (parent of Fidelity Investments)

10. Sheryl Sandberg: COO of Facebook

11. Phebe Novakovic: Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics

12. Carol Meyrowitz: CEO of TJX Companies

13. Lynn Good: CEO and President of Duke Energy

14. Safra Catz: Co-President and CFO of Oracle

15. Rosalind Brewer: CEO and President, Sam’s Club of Wal-Mart Stores

16. Marissa Mayer: CEO and President of Yahoo

17. Ursula Burns: Chairman and CEO of Xerox

18. Melanie Healey: Group President, North America of Procter & Gamble

19. Susan Wojcicki: CEO, YouTube of Google

20. Sandi Peterson: Group Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson

21. Renée James: President of Intel

22. Pam Nicholson: President and CEO of Enterprise Holdings

23. Deb Henretta: Group President, Global Beauty of Procter & Gamble

24. Denise Morrison: CEO and President of Campbell Soup

25. Gail Boudreaux: CEO, UnitedHealthcare, and EVP, UnitedHealth Group of UnitedHealth Group