In July 2009, we celebrated the most successful women in business.
What do top women at FedEx, Johnson & Johnson, The Limited and MassMutual, among others, have in common – besides being listed among PINK's Top 15 Women in Business 2009 in the April.May issue? When each made it to the top, she left the door wide open for other women to follow– and continued to reach back to help promising women superstars.
While the days of office catfights pitting ambitious women against each other may not be over, these "Glass-Breakers" are doing their part to make those days a thing of the past. "At the end of the quarter – or at the end of a life – these women will have accomplished far more than overseeing a healthy P&L and getting ahead where most others don't," says PINK Editor and CEO Cynthia Good. "This list offers new hope – for women, for corporate America, for humanity." Good admits to being moved to tears while reading these essays back to back.
In a new twist on its annual Top Women feature, PINK looked beyond the stellar résumés alone and asked 15 other women – each remarkable in her own right – to tell how the Glass-Breakers have helped them. The result is a single emotional portrait in 15 brush strokes of a uniquely feminine altruism as beautiful as it is inspiring.
- Shaunna F. Black, Texas Instruments
- LaVerne H. Council, Johnson & Johnson
- Barbara Cowden, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
- Julie Gilbert, Best Buy Co.
- Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch, The Coca-Cola Co.
- Linda Heasley, The Limited Stores
- Hala Moddelmog, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- Karen B. Peetz, The Bank of New York Mellon
- Laurie N. Robinson, CBS Corp.
- Elaine A. Sarsynski, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
- Ann Sherry, Carnival Australia
- Laurie A. Tucker, FedEx Services
- Lisa M. Weber, Metlife Inc.
- Amy Whitley, UPS
- Virginia M. Wilson, Wyndham Worldwide
PINK Editor/CEO Cynthia Good with Johnson & Johnson CIO Laverne Council.
From left to right: Linda Heasley, Chairman & CEO, The Limited Stores; Virginia Wilson, EVP & CEO, Wyndham Worldwide; Lisa Weber, Pres. Individual Business, Metlife; Sandra Kapell, SVP, Practice Dev., Metlife; and Hala Moddelmog, Pres. & CEO, Susan G. Komen.
From left to right: Julie Gilbert, CEO & Founder; Wolf Means Business; Karen Peetz, CEO, The Bank of New York Mellon; Billie Williamson, Partner & Americas Inclussiveness Office, Ernst & Young; Elaine Sarsynski, Chairman & CEO, Massachusetts Mutual Int'l; and Laurie Tucker, SVP Corporate Marketing FedEx Services.
Laverne Council, CIO of Johnson & Johnson, with her assistant Ann Allen and Bridget Cody, Director of Advertising at PINK.
"These leaders have not taken the easy path," says Billie Williamson, America's inclusiveness officer for Ernst & Young, which sponsored the list. "They've continued to challenge all of us to a higher level of leadership."
To find out more about PINK's Top 15 Women in Business, pick up the April.May issue, on newsstands now.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Danielle Truesdale
678.553.6065
"These leaders have not taken the easy path. They've continued to challenge all of us to a higher level of leadership."
-Billie Williamson
