Karen S. Lynch

CVS Health

Lynch is an American businesswoman, president and chief executive officer of CVS Health. In 2015, she became the first female president of Aetna (a health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services), and in 2021, she became the highest ranking female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list. Lynch is a graduate of Boston College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and has a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification. She started her career in Ernst & Young after graduation, specialising in insurance.

After almost a decade in the insurance line, she returned to graduate school to pursue her MBA. “I wanted to broaden my financial background to have more exposure to the business aspects of running a company,” she said. In 2004, Lynch was appointed president of Cigna Dental. In 2009, she left Cigna Dental to become the president of Magellan Health Services. Lynch stayed with Magellan until 2012, after which she joined Aetna as executive vice president and head of Specialty Products. She became Aetna’s first female president in 2015, and retained the role through a $70 billion acquisition of Aetna by CVS Health in 2018.

Following the retirement of Larry Merlo during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lynch took on the role as president and chief executive officer of CVS Health on February 1, 2021. The appointment made her the highest ranking female CEO on the Fortune 500 list and the 40th female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list. Under Lynch’s leadership, CVS Health has serves many people through its health insurance products and services. Lynch leads more than 300,000 colleagues who are passionate about transforming health care to be simpler, more convenient and more personalised. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the institution has aided in administering the Covid-19 vaccine in more than 40,000 long-term care facilities and in CVS Pharmacy locations in 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.

Little did people know, Lynch was raised by a single mother. Unfortunately, her mother committed suicide when she was only 12-years-old. Following her mother’s tragic death, Lynch and her siblings were raised by their aunt.

Jane Fraser

Citigroup

Fraser is a British-American banking executive that holds the position of chief executive officer at Citigroup since March 2021. She was a partner at McKinsey & Company for 10 years before joining in 2004. Citigroup announced in September 2020 that Fraser would replace Michael Corbat as CEO of Citigroup Inc and in February 2021, she became the first woman to head a major U.S. bank.

Before beginning her career with Citigroup, she joined McKinsey & Company in 1994, working in financial services and services before rising to partner. She wrote articles on globalisation and co-authored the 1999 book: Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm, with three other McKinsey employees. She travelled to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and India to interview McKinsey clients about their global challenges. After the publication of the book and hearing her speak about the book, Citigroup executive Michael Klein spent years encouraging Fraser to join Citigroup, a move she eventually made in 2004.

When she officially joined Citigroup, she was assigned as Head of Client Strategy in Citigroup’s investment and global banking division. In October 2007, she was promoted to Global Head of Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions, a position she held until May 2009. She was part of the executive team that was in charge of restructuring the group during her tenure as Global Head, which coincided with the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Fraser was promoted CEO of Citi Private Bank in June 2009. Prior to her promotion, the bank was running a deficit of approximately $250 million. It returned to black during her four-year tenure. Some of the changes implemented during her tenancy were a decrease in the ratio of private bankers to clients, with a target of one banker for every 30 clients, and the removal of commissions and sales formulas for bankers in favour of a year-end discretionary bonus.

In February 2021, Fraser was appointed to succeed Michael Corbat as Citigroup’s CEo following his retirement. Following the appointment, she became the first female CEO of a top tier Wall Street Investment Bank, leading the third largest bank in the U.S.

Julie Sweet

Accenture

Sweet is the current chair and chief executive officer of Accenture, a world renowned professional services company that specialises in information technology (IT) services and consulting. Holding a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, she was a partner in the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP for 10 years. To add to her feat, Sweet was the ninth woman to be made partner at the firm. There, she worked on financing, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate counsel.

Sweet was recruited by Accenture as general counsel in 2010. At that time, she was also the chief compliance officer and secretary before being promoted to CEO of Accenture’s North America business in 2015. She became CEO in September 2019, replacing David Rowland. At the time of her appointment, she was among the 27 women leading companies listed in the S&P 500, and the 15th female CEO of all Fortune Global 500 companies.

Her remarkable achievement did not just stop there. Sweet serves on the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees and on the board of directors for the Business Roundtable, which she chairs its Technology Committee. To top it off, she is also board chair of Catalyst and serves on the board of trustees for the Center for Strategic & International Studies and for the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities – Bridges from School to Work.

Carol Tomé

United Parcel Service

Tomé was formerly with The Home Depot, where she worked from 1995 to 2019, serving as Vice President and Treasurer and later as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Interestingly enough, in an interview with Fortune, Tomé was “full-on retired at her farm in northwest Georgia” when UPS CEO David Abney announced his retirement. She has been a board member for the UPS since 2003. Turns out, Tomé was what the company was looking for while looking for Abney’s replacement. She took the helm as the CEO of UPS in 2020.

Tomé was twice named in the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. In 2012, she was listed second on The Wall Street Journal’s list of best chief financial officers, and one of the top 50 most powerful women in business by Fortune magazine. Tomé was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50.

Mary Barra

General Motors

General Motors CEO Mary Barra provides an update on the ignition switch recall investigation Thursday, June 5, 2014 during a employee meeting at the GM Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren, Michigan. Barra expressed her deepest sympathies for those who lost their lives or were injured, and said GM would do the right thing and create a compensation program for victims, while doing everything within its power to prevent this problem from ever happening again. (Photo by Steve Fecht for General Motors)

General Motors has been under the leadership of Mary Barra since 2014. She began her career with GM in 1980 as General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at Pontiac Motor Division, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990.

Slowly climbing the corporate ladder, she became the vice president of Global Manufacturing Engineering in 2008. The following year, she advanced to the position of vice president of global human resources, a position she held until. When Barra took on the role of chief executive officer, she became the first female head of an automobile manufacturer. Although the company has come under fire more than a few times for mismanagement, yet under Barra’s management, GM moved into driverless and electric-powered cars through acquisitions including Strobe, a startup in driverless technology. In 2017, GM began selling the Chevy Bolt EV, overthrowing rival Tesla to be the first electric priced under $40,000 with a range of 200 miles.

Rosalind Brewer

Walgreens Boots Alliance

Brewer is a force to be reckoned with. She is the first African American woman to become the CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance, group president and COO of Starbucks, and CEO of Sam’s Club. USA Today has referred to her as “one of corporate America’s most prominent women and black female executives.” Brewer was appointed as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2021 and with the appointment, she became the only current African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

She was ranked 27th Most Powerful Woman in the World by Fortune and Forbes ranked her 48th in their Worlds 100 Most Powerful Woman. Brewer was also selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50 list of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50.

Changes can already be seen after Brewer took on the position as company CEO. The Deerfield-based pharmacy chain has transformed from a vertically integrated drugstore and pharmaceutical distribution company into a health care provider, with doctor’s offices attached to its stores. Business has surged during the past year, owing to the Covid-19 vaccinations, booster shots and test kits. Net earnings of the company jumped to $3.5 billion last quarter, compared with a $300 million loss during the same period in 2020.

Gail Boudreaux

Anthem

Usually, when a former athlete leaves their career, they would often go back to working in the same industry that they are familiar with. That is not the case with Boudreaux. She was already a star basketball player in high school, winning the state championship twice. In college, she was named Ivy League Player of the Year three straight seasons, and became a two-time Academic All-American and third team All-American as well. She was also honoured by NCAA as a Silver Anniversary Award winner, and was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Dartmouth’s Wearers of the Green Hall of Fame.

Before becoming the CEO of Anthem, she spent 20 years at Aetna. In 2008, Boudreaux became the executive vice president of UnitedHealthcare at UnitedHealth Group. She was named the CEO of UnitedHealthcare from 2011 to 2014, after which she formed her own healthcare consulting company, GKB Global Health. In 2017, Boudreax was named CEO of Anthem. Having over three decades of experience in the healthcare industry, Boudreaux has an outstanding record of successfully leading multimillion dollar business. The former CEO of United Healthcare has managed more than 60,000 employees and was responsible for generating more than $120 billion in revenue.

Abigail Johnson

Fidelity Investments

Johnson is the CEO of Fidelity Investments, an American investment firm that was founded in 1946 by her grandfather, Edward C. Johnson II. She took helm as the chief executive officer of the firm since 2014 and she owned approximately 24.5 percent stake in the privately held company, making her one of the richest women in the world.

Johnson joined Fidelity Investments upon graduating from Harvard Business School in 1988, where her father, Edward Johnson III was the CEO. She began her career as an analyst and portfolio manager and worked her way to be promoted to President of Fidelity Asset Management in 2001. During that period, Johnson attempted to overthrow her father as CEO over disagreements about his business decisions, but she was unsuccessful. In 2005, she became the Head of Retail, Workplace, and Institutional Business and was named President in 2012. In 2018, she introduced cryptocurrency investment at Fidelity, making it possible for institutional investors to trade bitcoin and ethereum.

Ruth Porat

Alphabet Inc.

Porat has been listed as the 16th most powerful women in the world by Forbes and seventh on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2020. She has been serving as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary, Google since 2015. Prior to that, Porat was CFO and executive vice president of Morgan Stanley from 2010 to 2015.

Her career began at Morgan Stanley in 1987. She left in 1993 to follow its president to Smith Barney. She returned to Morgan Stanley in 1996 and served as the CFO of the firm from 2010 to 2015. She was credited with creating European debt financing that saved Amazon from collapse during the dot-com melt down in 2000. She was nominated by President Barack Obama as the next Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in 2013, but according to reports, Porat contacted the White House officials to withdraw her name. Her career was analysed in the McKinsey & Company study “How Remarkable Women Lead”, and she was named “Best Financial Institutions CFO” in a poll conducted by Institutional Investors in 2014.

Porat joined Google as its new CFO in 2015 and her hiring deal amounted to $70 million. She was credited with boosting Google’s share price through reorganising the company and imposing financial discipline. Porat was named “Best internet CFO” and spoke at Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in California. She was paid $39 million in 2016, $688,000 in 2017, $47 million in 2018 and $50 million in 2020.

Thasunda Brown Duckett

TIAA

Duckett is the fourth Black woman in history to serve as a Fortune 500 CEO, and one of two female Black American CEOs to then lead a Fortune 500 company. Currently, she serves as the president and chief executive officer of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), provider of secure retirements and outcome focused investments solutions. Before TIAA, she was the CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, a division of JP Morgan and also a member of the board of directors of Nike.

She founded the Otis and Rosie Brown Foundation in honour of her parents to recognise and reward people who use ordinary means to empower and uplift their community in extraordinary ways. Duckett is passionate about helping communities of colour to close achievement gaps in wealth creation, educational outcomes and career success.

Before joining TIAA, she served as the CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, where she oversaw a banking network with more than $600 billion in deposits and 50,000 employees. Before that, she was the CEO of Chase Auto Finance, one of the leading U.S. providers of auto financing, and National Retail Sales Executive for Chase Mortgage Banking, in which she managed 4,000 mortgage bankers. As TIAA CEO, Duckett leads the company with a mission to provide financial inclusion and opportunity, a goal and value she upheld throughout her career.