With Irene Rosenfeld at the very top, food processing executives took the top three spots in Fortune magazine’s annual list of most powerful women in business. The magazine in September noted her for her “big show of power” this year in deciding to split Kraft Foods Inc. into two companies. Editors noted it was a reversal of previous philosophy of building the company by acquisition. A gal can change her mind …
The Kraft chairman and CEO switched positions with another chairman/CEO. Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo comes in second. Nooyi and Rosenfeld were 1-2 last year.
Ranking No. 3 is Patricia Woertz, CEO and president of agribusiness giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. Jan Fields, president of McDonald’s USA, rose to No. 17 from 25. Denise Morrison, president/CEO of Campbell Soup, came in 21st. Ilene Gordon, CEO and president of Corn Products International, ranked No. 42 — up 16 notches from last year.
By the way: Oprah Winfrey was No. 16, down from No. 6 last year.
The 14th annual ranking of powerful women looks at the size, health, direction and global importance of the business that a woman leads and the woman’s career path and social and cultural influence.
To see the full list, go to http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-powerful-women/2011.
