` ANGELA BRALY • Title: President and CEO • Company: WellPoint • Company rank: 33 • Age: 46 • Compensation: $9.1 million To outsiders, Angela Braly was a relative unknown when she took over WellPoint, the country's largest health insurer, last June. Internally, though, she is credited with orchestrating the $6.5 billion acquisition of WellChoice, also known as Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, in 2005. The Texan's first year as CEO of the $60 billion behemoth put her directly in the public eye and has been far from easy: Within two weeks after taking the helm, Michael Moore's Sicko was released, criticizing America's health care system and singling out the company's practice of denying coverage to patients. Braly also found herself searching for a new CFO after he was ousted for violating the company's personal code of conduct amid allegations of philandering. While no one can agree on the best way to fix an ailing healthcare system, there's no disputing that Braly - the only woman CEO of a Fortune 50 company - has one of the toughest jobs in business.
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`ANGELA BRALY
• Title: President and CEO
• Company: WellPoint
• Company rank: 33
• Age: 46
• Compensation: $9.1 million
To outsiders, Angela Braly was a relative unknown when she took over WellPoint, the country's largest health insurer, last June. Internally, though, she is credited with orchestrating the $6.5 billion acquisition of WellChoice, also known as Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, in 2005.
The Texan's first year as CEO of the $60 billion behemoth put her directly in the public eye and has been far from easy: Within two weeks after taking the helm, Michael Moore's Sicko was released, criticizing America's health care system and singling out the company's practice of denying coverage to patients. Braly also found herself searching for a new CFO after he was ousted for violating the company's personal code of conduct amid allegations of philandering.
While no one can agree on the best way to fix an ailing healthcare system, there's no disputing that Braly - the only woman CEO of a Fortune 50 company - has one of the toughest jobs in business.
PATRICIA WOERTZ Title: Chairman, President and CEO Company: Archer Daniels Midland Company rank: 52 Age: 55 Compensation: $7.6 million
Patricia Woertz doesn't let convention drive her career choices. For much of her professional life, she's worked in male-dominated fields, including 30 years devoted to the oil industry. And in her latest stint as CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, the former Chevron executive vice president is proving she can take on just about any challenge--even agriculture, an industry she never worked in before she became CEO in May 2006.
As Woertz learns about harvesting soy, wheat and corn crops, she's also busy making deals that will allow the company to commercially produce corn-based, biodegradable plastic.
INDRA NOOYI
Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: PepsiCo
Company rank: 59
Age: 52
Compensation: $11.8 million
PepsiCo is on a binge--a $1.3 billion feast of acquisitions. But it's
not for fat or sugar-laden products. Instead, Indra Nooyi (who's
been CEO since 2006) has been culling from a menu of natural
and organic snacks and drinks. The beverage giant has already
bought Naked Juice, which promises antioxidant-heavy, no-
sugar-added smoothies, and Stacy's Pita chips.
Nooyi's motivation has been to make moves that fatten up the
bottom line without adding to the expansion of customers'
waistlines. The strategy seems to be working: In 2007, Nooyi's
first full year as CEO, revenue increased 12% to $39.5 billion.
IRENE ROSENFELD
Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: Kraft Foods
Company rank: 63
Age: 54
Compensation: $11.3 million
The good news: Irene Rosenfeld, who became CEO in June 2006,
finally gets to call the shots at Kraft after it spun off from Altria
(which owns Philip Morris) last year. The bad news? That
independence means she has to deliver digestible numbers at a
time when dairy prices pressure sales of some key products,
such as Kraft Singles and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Even kid
favorites--Oreos cookies and Oscar Mayer cold cuts--are seeing
more shelf-time than lunchboxes.
But Rosenfeld is hoping to regain both lunch time and Wall
Street popularity with a three-year growth plan, which calls for
job cuts, innovating current products, and even unloading some
product lines. Corporate buyers have already lightened Kraft's
load: Sunny Delight Beverages Co. acquired Veryfine juices and
Ralcorp Holdings snapped up Post Cereals.
CAROL MEYROWITZ
Title: President and CEO
Company: TJX
Company rank: 132
Age: 54
Compensation: $7.6 million
Carol Meyrowitz took over TJX, the largest off-price
retailer (home to T.J.Maxx and Marshall's), just as a major
security breach unraveled early last year. That violation,
which compromised the information of millions of
customers, led to an investigation and millions of dollars
of settlement fees paid by TJX to Visa and MasterCard.
But not everything has been burdensome for the 25-year
retail vet: Meyrowitz recently reported the company's
financial results, including a 4.6% net income increase
and a 22% dividend hike for shareholders.
MARY SAMMONS
Title: Chairman, President and CEO
Company: Rite Aid
Company rank: 142
Age: 61
Compensation: $4.3 million
Mary Sammons can be credited with helping revive Rite Aid: The
drugstore operator was in the corporate ER facing bankruptcy
because of an accounting scandal when she joined the troubled
company as president in 1999.
Rite Aid, now a $17.5 billion powerhouse, has fully recovered and is
making more positive headlines, this time for becoming the third-
largest national drugstore outfit after it bought the Brooks and
Eckerd pharmacy chains in 2007. Sammons is still hard at work and
is focusing on bringing in new products to its more than 5,000
stores.
ANNE MULCAHY
Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: Xerox
Company rank: 144
Age: 54
Compensation: $13.5 million
When Anne Mulcahy took over Xerox in 2001, the problems were
not as simple as replacing a toner cartridge. Error signals were
flashing: The company was under investigation by the SEC for
overstating its financial results and was facing $15 billion of
mounting debt.
After successfully completing the daunting task of engineering
Xerox out of its predicaments, Mulcahy emerged with one of the
best comeback stories of corporate America. Today, sales have
steadily increased to $17.2 billion, an 8% increase over last year,
and the company has a brighter future thanks to bets it placed
on color printing and document management.
BRENDA BARNES
Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: Sara Lee
Company rank: 203
Age: 54
Compensation: $8.7 million
When Brenda Barnes was hired to lead Sara Lee in 2005, she
noticed there were too many cooks in the kitchen. Headcount,
especially at the management level, needed to come down. The 22-
year PepsiCo vet has steered Sara Lee into leaner territory by
cutting and consolidating (Sara Lee's portfolio once included
undergarment-maker, Hanes, among its namesake cakes and pies).
Having trimmed the fat, Barnes is now dealing with skyrocketing
wheat and corn prices. She hopes aggressive marketing, price
increases and new food aisle arrivals like bite-size cheesecakes will
help the $13 billion food conglomerate rebound from the 29%
revenue drop it saw in 2007.
ANDREA JUNG
• Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: Avon Products
Company rank: 265
Age: 49
Compensation: $13.7 million
Corporations, like people, are sensitive to signs of aging. In 2005,
Avon underwent a renewal treatment to update its product mix, and
reduce costs in an effort to increase sales and profits. Andrea Jung,
who's been CEO since 1999, boosted spending on advertising and
innovation while she reduced overall staff.
The bets have paid off. Last year, Avon's revenue--nearly $10
billion--and profits of $530 million grew at double-digit rates. Now
121 years old, Avon has regained appeal among young and old with
quality lotions and hipper makeup, and has set its global expansion
sights on attracting Chinese customers. The Chinese government, in
recent years, loosened restrictions on direct sales and, in late
February 2006, Avon was granted a direct-selling license by China's