2013′s Top 10 Lady Leaders in Business World

I know women entrepreneurs always influence the business world too and I got this fact to be noted only because when I launched the digmlm in March,2010 I had written an article about lady leaders in business and that was really a viral one, due to that article I got a position in business blog communities and now you are probably aware about the success story of this place.

Today it’s all about the most powerful business women as listed by the popular list maker magazine the Forbes and but that is not in the same order you would like to read so for your convenience and time saving I’m creating that list again with some extra information to boost your motivation level from the current level.

Here they are, so bookmark this post or simply print for further reading and making them your idol to become a successful entrepreneur someday in near future.

10. Rosalind Brewer - President and CEO, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart Stores

Age – 49
Country – United States
Business – Retail

It was January 2012 when Rosalind Brewer was appointed president and chief of Sam’s Club, it’s a history because she is the first woman and first African American ever to become CEO of a Wal-Mart business unit.

The discount membership club is the eighth largest retailer in the U.S., with 610 locations and 47 million members. Sam’s contributes 12% of Wal-Mart’s annual revenues and posted some $50 billion in sales in 2011.

Rosalind Brewer previously worked as the president of Wal-Mart’s U.S. East business division, where she was responsible for twice the revenue and locations and was considered a rising star. The college chemistry major came to Wal-Mart in 2006 from consumer-products maker Kimberly-Clark Corp, where she started as a scientist and climbed to an executive in the non-woven fabrics unit.

9. Angela Ahrendts - CEO, Burberry Group

Age – 52
Country – United States
Business – Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods

The CEO of one of the world’s most iconic brands and the largest apparel, accessories and luxury goods company by market cap in the U.K., Angela Ahrendts is the power behind $2.8 billion in annual revenues. The 52-year-old mother of three from Indiana seems an unlikely candidate to reinvigorate a century-old British fashion house, but she’s credited with infusing the classic clothier with Silicon Valley tech savvy. She calls it a “young old company,” and it’s paid off.

Burberry has more than 12 million Facebook fans, one million Twitter followers and online sales have skyrocketed. In financial benchmarks, sales of nearly $3 billion are more than double what they were upon her arrival at the company in 2006, and the stock has returned nearly 300% in that time. Ahrendts and Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey do regular webcasts for employees, and recently decided to up the frequency from quarterly to monthly.

Staffers use an insider social network, called “Chatter” to stay in the know.

8. Zhang Xin & Family - Cofounder, CEO, Soho China Ltd.

Age – 47
Country – China 
Business – Real Estate

Zhang Xin, also known as Pan Marita, leads Soho China, Beijing’s largest property developer, with her husband Pan Shiyi. The company reported a 65% drop in first-half net profit to $97 million as it completed fewer projects during the period. To reverse the profit drop, the company announced plans to move into a “build-and-hold” business model for its office and retail assets, meaning it will no longer sell prime commercial projects it develops in Beijing and Shanghai, citing the potential for asset appreciation and booming rents at key locations. Concerns over the transformation sent shares of Soho China down more than 8% in the two days after the announcement. Over the past year, shares have fallen about 15%, shaving $650 million from Zhang’s net worth.

Zhang and Pan founded Soho China in Beijing in 1995, and have continued to aggressively buy up real estate in Beijing and Shanghai, transforming the cities’ skylines. Prior to founding Soho China, Zhang worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs and Travelers Group.

7. Marry Barra - SVP, Global Product Development, General Motors

Age – 50 
Country – United States
Business – Vehicles

The highest-ranking woman at GM, currently the world’s largest auto company, Mary Barra oversees 36,000 people and leads the design, engineering and quality of the automaker’s 11 global brands. She has been increasingly focused on streamlining corporate bureaucracy, and in July reduced the number of program leaders in charge of vehicle development. Current GM CEO Dan Akerson, who appointed her head of global product development in early 2011, named her as a possible successor this May, saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Barra started at GM at age 18 to help pay tuition while she sought an electrical engineering degree. She’s held vice president positions in global human resources and global manufacturing engineering, and told FORBES that being a car gal rather than car guy has never stood in her way.

“It’s about no-kidding results.”

6. Sheri McCoy - CEO, Avon Products

Age – 54
Country – United States
Business – Beauty Industry

After being edged out of the top job at drug maker Johnson & Johnson, Sheri McCoy took the CEO seat at Avon in April. The world’s largest direct seller of beauty products, with 6.4 million active sales reps in 100 countries, faces depressed earnings, an SEC investigation of its China operations and multiple takeover bids by fragrance maker Coty. In her first weeks on the job, McCoy rebuffed Coty’s offers to talk and set an agenda to tour key markets and assess Avon’s capabilities and operating model. With four patents and degrees in business, textile chemistry and chemical engineering, McCoy is lauded for her strategic skills and turnaround experience. She spent 30 years at J&J, beginning as a scientist and eventually climbing to a vice chairman role, where she oversaw 60% of its $65 billion in revenues.

5. Diane Von Furstenburg - Owner, Fashion Designer Diane Von Furstenburg Studio, L.P

Age – 65
Country – United States
Business – Fashion Designing

It’s been a year of interesting–and mass market–collaborations for the veteran fashion designer. In June von Furstenberg entered her fourth term as President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a position she’ll hold at least through 2014. In her capacity she oversees the 427 fashion designers on the group’s board. She is also teaming up with women’s lifestyle brand ROXY, for a line of swimwear that will hit stores Spring 2013 and has been asked to design Evian water’s 2013 limited edition bottle, due on shelves in November.

The Belgian-born von Furstenberg may have begun designing clothing in 1970 with $30K, but has since risen to the top of the industry, now wielding the power of the president of the trade association of the country’s top 350 designers. The 64-year old is married to media mogul and billionaire philanthropist Barry Diller (No. 804 on the FORBES Billionaires list, valued at $1.6 billion.)

4. Angela Braly - CEO, WellPoint

Age – 51
Country – United States
Business – Insurance

Angela Braly has run the second largest health insurer in the U.S. since 2007, impacting the health of one in nine Americans. With the support of the “fully involved” board, even after disappointing earnings, Braly is pushing acquisitions to capitalize on health care reform and diversify WellPoint’s revenue streams. She agreed to acquire health insurer Amerigroup in July for $4.9 billion and corrective-lens retailer 1-800 Contacts for $900 million in June. Amid a contentious national health-care debate, in May protesters pushing for more political transparency repeatedly interrupted and shouted at Braly throughout the annual shareholder meeting. In addition to her role as chair of WellPoint, the Texas-raised lawyer also sits on the boards of Procter & Gamble, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the National Institute for Health Care Management.

3. Maria Das Gracas Silva Foster - CEO, Petrobras-Petroleo Brasil

Age – 59
Country – Brazil
Business – Oil & Gas

As oil and gas production continue to be vital sectors in the global economy, analysts say Brazilian mammoth Petrobas’s capacity for output is tremendously important. And with revenues of over $130 billion, the company, which produces 91% of Brazil’s oil and 90% of its natural gas, is certainly doing its part domestically. During Foster’s 30+ years with the company (she joined as a chemical engineer in 1981) she has kept close ties with its natural gas unit, most recently serving as the chief of that business. Nicknamed Caveirao, Brazilian slang for slum-clearing armored police cars, and who sports two small star tattoos on her wrist, Foster is counted among the close friends of Pres. Dilma Rousseff.

When Rousseff was energy minister under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Foster was her secretary for oil, natural gas and renewable fuels. The Brazilian government controls 51% of the company, which will spend $225 billion over the next decade to explore oil off of the Brazilian coastline.

2. Irene Rosenfeld - Chairman & CEO, Kraft Food

Age – 59
Country – United States
Business – Grocery

This year Irene Rosenfeld has been busy orchestrating a corporate split of Kraft’s North American grocery business and its global snacks business into two independent public companies. The break-up was announced in August 2011 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2012. The doctor of marketing and statistics will lead the $35 billion snacks company, with brands like Oreo cookies and Trident gum, where she foresees substantial growth as busy consumers eat more frequently on-the-go.

It will leave behind the Kraft name and be called Mondelez International, an invented word meant to evoke the phrase “delicious world” in a variety of romance languages, which was chosen through an employee contest to name the new company. However, some management decisions have been less whimsical. Rosenfeld cut 1600 jobs, relocated others and closed three Kraft offices to create “leaner” operations.

1.Indra Nooyi - Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo

Age – 57
Country – United States
Business – Beverages

This superstar CEO last year returned $5.6 billion to shareholders, when PepsiCo net revenue grew 14% to $66 billion. But with gain comes pain: Languishing stock at the snack-and-soda giant and diminishing market share to rival Coca-Cola have put Indra Nooyi in the hot seat. An activist investor gained a $600 million, 0.6% stake and lobbied for a company split, where the beverage business would be spun off as a separate company–something Nooyi opposes. Big changes are in the works.

This year, Nooyi cut 3% of PepsiCo’s global workforce to reduce costs and upped the marketing budget for core brands by $500 to $600 million, or 15%. In March, the company launched mid-calorie soda Pepsi Next, containing a blend of artificial and real sweeteners with 60% less sugar.

Nooyi also reshuffled management of top executives, a move that may set up her successor.