MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD

POLITICS

100

She may not carry the hard power of her husband but there's arguably no one who makes better use of the world stage. The Harvard grad and former corporate attorney, actively uses her platform to fight childhood obesity and promote healthier eating and lifestyles. With approval ratings at 66%, she's more popular than her husband by far (44%) -- likely because she spends more time laughing on TV than running the country. She launched an initiative aimed at increasing the number of low-income students who go to college. This year she's been extremely visible globally, taking a trip to China in March, where she met with her Chinese counterpart and fellow Power Woman Peng Liyuan.

Who is Michelle Obama

200

There is no denying that she is a fierce political force to be reckoned with. And should she be the first woman president of the U.S. come 2016, it would not be her first foray into breaking barriers. She is the first and only first lady to become a U.S. Senator, not to mention presidential candidate.

Who is Hillary Clinton

300

Malawi's first female president (and second on the African continent) narrowly won a second term this May after originally assuming office in 2012.Her time so far has been marred by financial scandals, arrests and prosecutions in her own government. But her most brazen decisions have been for austerity's sake. She sold off a $15 million presidential jet, cut her own salary by 30 percent and dismissed her cabinet in the midst of corruption allegations. Her bookkeeping measures have helped lift monetary suspensions from Western donors to Malawi and restore cash injections from the IMF.

Who is Joyce Banda

400

she became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President Obama describes her as "one of our foremost thinkers on foreign policy." She worked on his 2008 presidential campaign, but resigned after she called his opponent Hillary Clinton "a monster." While she stepped out of the light following the controversy, she remained by Obama's side as an adviser. Before working in politics, she was a professor at Harvard, journalist and author of several acclaimed books, including the Pulitzer-prize winning, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide." Born in Ireland, Power immigrated to the U.S. when she as 9.

Who is Samantha Power

500

She gets high marks for acting the grown up on the global stage. She is using her power against ISIS--breaking the post-Nazi-era taboo of direct involvement in military actions by sending arms to Kurdish fighters--and to deter Russia's threats to Ukraine and European gas supplies. Germany continues to be the $17.5 trillion EU's fiscal powerhouse, although its economy contracted for the first time in over a year. She who grew up in East Germany, was elected in 2005 as the first female German chancellor and clinched a third four-year term last December, making her the longest-serving elected EU head of state. She is the chancellor of Germany.

Who is Angela Merkel

ENTERTAINMENT/MEDIA

100

The superstar singer played 95 shows, bringing in an average $2.4 million per city, according to Pollstar. She also dropped her most innovative album. The record hit iTunes in December with barely any publicity; her single has already sold more than 1 million copies. She is number 17 on the top 100 Worlds Most Powerful Women List by Forbes.

Who is Beyonce Knowles

200

She spent the first half of 2014 walking red carpets thanks to award nominations for her role in the acclaimed historical drama "Lee Daniels' The Butler". While she appears to have reversed the fortunes of her once-struggling network, which became cash-flow positive in 2013, the bulk of her entertainment earnings still come from both her long-running talk show (off the air but in syndication) and the successful spin-off stars she helped create, including Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz. She also makes millions annually from her Magazine and Sirius XM Radio show.

Who is Oprah Winfrey

300

She reigns supreme as the top-earning actress on television for the third year in a row. This is in large part due to her savvy business skills; the Colombia native has endorsement contracts with Diet Pepsi, CoverGirl, Head & Shoulders and AT&T, among others. She also has a 12-year contract with K-Mart and a new fragrance. The reported $325K take-home per episode of "Modern Family" doesn't hurt either. Off-camera, the talent management and entertainment-marketing firm she co-founded, Latin World Entertainment, is launching a Spanish-language tech news site.

Who is Sofia Vergara

400

Already the most powerful women in cable television, in 2013 Hammer added five networks to her profit-machine portfolio. Bravo, Oxygen are among the newest to join her previous responsibilities with USA Network, Syfy, E!, among others. Her new group, Cable Entertainment Group, will account for about 50% of the company's operating cash flow, according to NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. Full year 2013 revenue was $23.7 billion, a .7% decline. USA Network has been cable's No. 1 channel for eight consecutive years, fueled in part by WWE Monday Night Raw, the most watched regularly scheduled program on cable.

Who is Bonnie Hammer

500

It's been a year of highs for the most-watched woman in fashion. In May the Metropolitan Museum of Art renamed its halls of fashion, including the Costume Institutes Galleries, in honor of the Vogue editor. She hosted her 16th Met Gala, which raised $12 million for the museum in one night. She's raised $137 million for the museum in total.She was a top bundler for President Obama during the 2012 election, and she hosting another fundraiser in June.

Who is Anna Wintour

FINANCE/BUSINESS

100

The celebration of the first woman ever to head a Big 8 automaker and the largest seller in the U.S. market ended soon after the champagne popped. She took the reins of GM in January and in April was summoned to Congress to answer for faulty ignition switches linked to at least 21 deaths. Throughout a 30-million-car recall, the 34-year veteran has remained poised and confident. She says GM is on track for 10% operating margins in North America and to restore profits in Europe by 2016. Her leadership, she said, will bring about a "new GM," able to regain customer trust. In September the Detroit automaker announced a 2017 Cadillac that drives itself--a model that'll let drivers take their hands off the wheel at highway speeds. She is the CEO of General Motors

Who is Mary Barra

200

The most powerful woman in finance in Australia, She leads Westpac Group Australia's oldest and second largest bank with $651.4 billion in assets and more than 36,000 employees. Not quite satisfied when she met her goal -- two years early -- of having women fill 40% of top managerial positions at Westpac, She recalibrated the target. Now she aims for half of the bank's top managers to be women by 2017, the same year that it celebrates its 200th anniversary. Gender equality isn't the only benchmark to rise under her leadership this year, either. The bank's net profit climbed to $3.36 billion in the six months through March from $3.05 billion a year earlier.

Who is Gail Kelly

300

She just accepted the chance to return to Nasdaq OMX where she will report to the man many believe she will succeed as CEO. Last month, She took the offer to rejoin the $6 billion company as co-president. She heads back to Nasdaq after leaving the company in 2011 for the CFO role at private equity giant, Carlyle Group. Her finance smarts are likely to win her the top job once Robert Greifeld decides to step down. At least that what Carlyle co-founder and billionaire David Rubenstein believes dubbing her as the "leading candidate to some day run Nasdaq." She is the Co-president, NASDAQ OMX Group.

Who is Adena Friedman

400

best known for the product that started it all: a $200 pair of ballet flats in every conceivable color named after her mother, Reva. The fashion mogul recently launched Elizabeth Street Capital. She joined FORBES' World's Billionaires list in 2013 thanks to the incredible growth of her preppy womenswear brand, which brought in more than $800 million in revenues in 2013.

Who is Tory Burch

500

In February, ADM's Chairman and CEO handed off her role as president -- one she'd held since 2006 -- to the agribusiness giant's chief operating officer. Woertz and ADM suffered a blow last year when Australia rejected ADM's bid to acquire grain handler GrainCorp Ltd. The acquisition would have helped ADM export goods to China and other fast-growing markets in Asia. The failed deal contributed to a 27 percent drop in ADM's fourth-quarter profit. Yet with $89.8 billion in annual revenue, ADM remains one of the world's top grain traders and the largest corn processor in the world.

Who is Patricia Woertz

PHILANTHROPY

100

She has cemented her dominance in philanthropy and global development to the tune of $3.4 billion in giving in 2012 (most recent data available) and more than $26 billion in grant commitments since she founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband in 1998. Her work has inspired other big donors and has changed way funders think about effective philanthropy: highly targeted campaigns coupled with data-driven monitoring and global collaboration. As the woman with her name on the door, she decides the direction of the organization and reviews the results. Much of her attention is now focused on the reproductive health of women in developing countries. She is #3 on the Forbes World's Most Powerful 100 Women.

Who is Melinda Gates

200

As the most powerful woman in the United Nations, she sits atop an annual budget of some $5 billion, a staff of 8,000 in 182 countries in 37 organizations. Her job has global impact: leading the international charge toward reaching the UN's Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The goals range from cutting poverty to half its 1990 level by the end of next year to big steps toward universal primary education, gender equality and environmental sustainability. With 700 million fewer people living in extreme poverty today than in 1990, progress has been significant. She is also turning some of her attention to post-2015 goals, crowdsourcing ideas from the public through the MY World Initiative. Before becoming UNDP's first female head in 2009, Clark was the first woman elected prime minister of New Zealand and the second woman to hold the post. She is the Administrator, U.N. Development Programme

Who is Helen Clark.

300

As leader of the World Health Organization, the main UN health agency, she is staring down what may be the worst global disease since the 1918 flu--the official Ebola death rate is now some 5,000. In September she described the outbreak as a "social crisis, a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis and a threat to national security." Chan, who is midway through her second term as director-general, is not without criticism for her handling of the outbreak, with some calling it her "Katrina Moment." She has admitted her agency "underestimated the magnitude, the complexity and the challenges" of Ebola. She is the Director-General, World Health Organization

Who is Dr. Margaret Chan

400

She has fed 177 million people since taking the helm of world's largest hunger-fighting organization two years ago. Under her leadership WFP increased donations from 30,000 individuals by 17% last year. Overall WFP raised $4.3 billion in contributions from governments, corporations, foundations and individual donors in 2013. The funding growth will allow Cousins' 13,500 strong staff to work in 83 countries this year while focusing on fighting hunger brought on by drought and civil war is Syria, as well as by violent conflicts in South Sudan. She is the Executive Director, World Food Programme, United Nations

Who is Ertharin Cousin

500

When Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in November 2013 CARE was on the ground within days providing food, shelter and supplies. Within three months the anti-poverty organization had raised $20 million toward assisting the storm ravaged nation and within six months had helped 300,000 people. Under her leadership CARE total program activities budget is $529 million (from 2012) and will complete over 900 projects in 87 countries this year. She is the president-CEO of CARE

Who is Helene Gayle

STEM

100

She clearly knows how to command attention: The Facebook Chief Operating Officer's 2013 bestselling book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" won famous fans (including fellow Power Women Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Beyonce), spawned thousands of Lean In Circles, inspired a spin-off ("Lean In for Graduates," published in 2014) and a Sony Pictures movie deal. With a net worth of just around $1 billion, She oversees sales, marketing, business development, human resources and communications at the social media giant, which has a $160 billion market value. Under her leadership, Facebook has improved its earnings performance and revamped its mobile strategy. In May she joined The Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her net worth to charitable causes.

Who is Sheryl Sandberg

200

Yahoo's "spender-in-chief" spent more than $100 million on 21 companies last year, largely for acqui-hires. Plus $1.1 billion for Tumblr. She's also upping the site's media presence, hiring high profile journalist Katie Couric, among others, and announcing plans to produce original programming. The chance of her continuing the spending spree is high. Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company in which Yahoo holds a 24% stake, is set to go public and agreements between the two companies forces her to divest a part of that stake. It is expected to draw $10 billion after taxes. Analysts, however, continue to question the company's value without Alibaba. She came to the portal in 2012 after 13 years at Google.

Who is Marissa Mayer

300

The world is headed into a paperless future. And yet in her five years as CEO, she has managed to make Xerox--once only known for its carbon copies--a viable and profitable company. This past year, she helped Xerox generate adjusted earnings per share of $1.09, up from $1.02 in 2012, and post $21.4 billion in full-year revenue. She recently told shareholders that she would continue to sharpen the company's technology-driven, services-led portfolio. Services represents 57% of the company's total revenue and is expected to grow to two-thirds by 2017. She is a Xerox lifer, beginning her career in 1980 as a summer intern.

Who is Ursula Burns.

400

As president and COO of SpaceX, rocket science is her business. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the commercial space exploration company founded by Elon Musk, managing nearly $5 billion in contracts -- that includes a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. A high school cheerleader and varsity basketball player, she chose to pursue an engineering career after attending a Society of Women Engineers panel at the Illinois Institute of Technology with her mother. She graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics. Employee No. 7, she's been with SpaceX since its founding in 2002, and has been in her current role since 2008. Prior to that, she spent over 10 years at Aerospace Corporation and was Director of Microcosm's Space Systems Division.

Who is Gwynne Shotwell

500

Founder of Biocon, India's largest listed biopharma firm and maker of drugs for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, aims to more than double its revenues to $1 billion by 2018. Ahead of a long-awaited listing of research services arm Syngene, Biocon bought back GE Capital's 7.7% stake in it for $35 million and sold 10% to investment firm Silver Leaf Oak. She was awarded the Global Economy Prize by Germany's Kiel institute in June

Who is Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw