
FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen
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Rank: 27 (2004 rank: 28)
Swiss Re
Switzerland
Chief Financial Officer
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| When the CEO of the world's second-largest reinsurance company announced he was leaving last year, Godbehere wasn't mentioned as a candidate for the job. But that shouldn't diminish the importance of the 50-year-old Canadian-born CFO at the $29 billion company. Swiss Re's net profit jumped 45% last year, and Godbehere's decision to hang on to that money rather than give in to shareholders demanding a stock buyback seems prescient as the reinsurer copes with huge payouts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. |
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From the November 14, 2005 issue
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| Highest pay |
| These women are among the highest paid in corporate America. All of them are employed by companies with over $1 billion in sales that filed proxies by September 1, 2005. |
| Young and powerful |
| Newcomer Charlene Begley heads up GE's plastics division and is the youngest of this group at age 39. She bumped last year's youngest gun, Citigroup CFO Sallie Krawcheck, now 40. But, on average, the Power 50 are in their late 40s. |
| Perennial powers |
| These women have been on the Power 50 each year since it began in 1998. |
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