Western-Pennsylvanian Patricia Woertz was interested in the corporate world from an early age.
"Mom worked as a school librarian, and she felt summers were for education," Woertz told Fortune in 2006. Spending the sweaty vacation days in gems like a Heinz ketchup plant or a U.S. Steel mill, she found the production process fascinating.
Fast forward to 1974. Woertz graduated from Penn State University with a degree in accounting. She became a consultant at Ernst & Young in Pittsburgh and moved to Gulf Oil several years later.
After Gulf and Chevron merged in 1984, Woertz created many new contacts and eventually made a move to Chevron, taking charge of the company's "downstream" operation.
Ready for a CEO position, but realizing that then-Chevron CEO David O'Reilly was several years from retiring, she stepped down from her position in February 2006.
The following April, Tom Neff of Spencer Stuart called Woertz and discussed a CEO opportunity at ADM. The rest is history.
As CEO, Woertz has led ADM while serving on the boards of directors of Procter & Gamble and the U.S.-China Business Council. Oh, and she's a mother to three children.
Wal-Mart tops the Fortune Global 500 for the second year in a row. See the full list of the world's largest corporations, including detailed company profiles and contact information.
.
