Technology industry appears highly male dominated at the top, with few female execs part of the boardroom. However, there are some who have been able to break the glass ceiling and emerge on top.
Here’s a look at ten powerful women who hold the reigns of some of the biggest technology companies in the world.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
Recently joining the billionaire club, Sandberg was poached from Google by Mark Zuckerberg, six years ago, to take charge as Facebook’s COO. Sandberg oversees Facebook’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications. She has been responsible for steering Facebook towards profitability.
Sandberg holds 12.3 million personal shares in Facebook. According to reports, Sandberg’s remuneration package was close to $26.2 million, last year, with $25.6 million in stock options. She also sits on the boards of Starbucks and Walt Disney
Meg Whitman, CEO, HP
Meg Whitman is the president and chief executive officer of PC giant Hewlett Packard (HP). Whitman joined HP’s board in 2010 and became the CEO in 2011. IN the past quarter, HP reported revenue and profit that topped analysts’ estimates. The company's stock has on an average risen by 20% since Whitman took over. HP's shares plunged during Whitman's first few months on the job, however, in 2013 they nearly doubled reflecting increased investor confidence in her ability to turnaround the company.
Last year, she got a big raise as she entered the third year of her attempt to turn around the ailing personal computer and printer maker. Whitman's annual salary touched $1.5 million from the symbolic $1 salary that she settled for during her first two years on the job. She has served on the board of directors of the eBay Foundation, Procter & Gamble and DreamWorks SKG.
Virginia Rometty, CEO, IBM
The first-ever woman to head IBM, Rometty has been a part of Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" list for the past eight years.
Rometty started her career at IBM in 1981. Since then she has held a series of leadership positions in the company, most recently as senior vice president and group executive, IBM sales, marketing and strategy. In this role, she was responsible for business results in the 170 global markets in which IBM operates and pioneered IBM's rapid expansion in the emerging economies of the world. As part of this, she established IBM’s Growth Markets organization, which is expected to contribute as much as 30% of IBM revenues by 2015.
Rometty has also served as senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services, where she is said to have successfully led the integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.
Ursula Burns, chairman & CEO, Xerox
The first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company, Burns has been associated with Xerox since 1981. She joined the company as a summer intern and worked in different roles before being named the CEO in 2009. Shortly after, Xerox made the largest acquisition in its history, the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services.
Burns’ total salary has been estimated at $13.1 million with $1.1 million being the basic pay and the rest comprising of incentives, stock awards and a non-incentive equity plan. She has served on the boards of Exxon Mobil, American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, and the MIT Corporation, among others.
Safra Ada Catz, co-president & CFO, Oracle
Born in Israel, Safra Ada Catz joined Oracle in 1999. Catz has been the president of Oracle Corporation since January 2004 and has been its chief financial officer since April 25, 2011. Catz played a major role in Oracle’s acquisition of rival PeopleSoft.
Catz has been an independent non-executive director at HSBC Holdings plc since May 1, 2008. She has been a member of executive council at TechNet since March 14, 2013. She served as director of PeopleSoft Inc since December 30, 2004 and Stellent Inc since December 12, 2006.
Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo
Among Google’s first employees, Mayer has played a key role in the development of some of the search giant’s major products. She joined Yahoo in 2012 as president and CEO taking over the responsibility of resurrecting the ailing internet giant. Since then, the company has revamped a number of its products and acquired biggies like Tumblr.
Yahoo paid Mayer a total salary of $36.6 million in 2012 which includes $454,862 in salary, $35 million in stock awards and a bonus of $1.12 million in addition to over $40,000 in other compensation, as per a regulatory filing. She is a member of the Yahoo board and has been featured in Fortune magazine's annual list of America's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for six consecutive years.
Susan Wojcicki, senior VP, Google
Ranked among Forbes Magazine's The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, Susan Wojcicki is senior vice president, ads & commerce. Her garage was where Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin first set up their office.
Wojcicki looks after all of Google's ad products - AdWords and AdSense, Analytics and DoubleClick, and as per reports, was credited for bringing 87% of the company's $50 billion revenue in 2012.
Cher Wang, co-founder and chair, HTC
One of the most powerful women in technology, Cher Wang is hailed as the ‘pride of Taiwan.’ She co-founded chip making company VIA Technologies in 1987 and device maker HTC in 1997.
Wang, together with her husband Wen Chi Chen, was ranked as the wealthiest person in Taiwan, with a net worth of $8.8 billion in 2011. Forbes has also featured her in the list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
Of recent, HTC has been reporting losses but Wang has repeatedly ruled out selling the company. She currently owns 3.8% of HTC.
Padmasree Warrior, chief technology and strategy officer, Cisco
Born and raised in India, Padmasree Warrior joined Motorola in 1984 and worked in different roles at the company with the last one being the chief technical officer (CTO). She left Motorola and joined Cisco Systems as CTO in 2007. At Cisco, she is responsible for strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, integration of new business models, incubation of new technologies and talent.
Warrior serves on the boards of Cornell University Engineering Council, Chicago Mayor’s Technology Council, Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and Museum of Science and Industry, and advisory council of Indian Institute of Technology.
Sun Yafang, chair, Huawei
Sun Yafang has been serving as the chairwoman of Chinese technology company Huawei since 1999. She started her career with Huawei in 1989 and has worked in various capabilities before being appointed as the chairwoman of the Huawei board. She was featured in the world’s most powerful women list, in 2012.
Sun has been credited for creating a management system for the company's human resources department. She is also said to be responsible for market expansion.
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