The Global Power 50

With 11 newcomers - several of them American expats gone to Europe - our list of the most powerful women in global business demonstrates their rise in male-dominated fields, from nuclear energy to mining to oil.

24 of 50

24. Cheung Yan

Chairman
Nine Dragons Paper

Country: China
2006 rank: New

China's richest woman burst onto the scene last year when the paper-recycling company she started more than a decade ago went public. It's now worth $13 billion. Cheung, 50, is a former accountant who lost her job but then capitalized on China's export boom by importing scrap paper from the U.S. and Europe and turning it into cardboard boxes that are exported packed with Chinese-manufactured products. Profits rose 46%, to $266 million, in fiscal 2007, on revenue of $1.3 billion.

Cynthia Carroll Anne Lauvergeon Marjorie Scardino Patricia Russo Linda Cook Anne-Marie Idrac Marina Berlusconi Güler Sabanci Ana Patricia Botín Nancy McKinstry Annika Falkengren Ho Ching Maureen Chiquet Maria Ramos Chua Sock Koong Vivienne Cox Clara Furse Angela Ahrendts Barbara Kux Gulzhan Moldazhanova Val Gooding Patricia Barbizet Deb Henretta Cheung Yan Yang Mianmian María Aramburuzabala de Garza Sun Yafang Gail Kelly Lubna Olayan Barbara Stymiest Ingrid Matthäus-Maier Kate Swann Chanda Kochhar Ilene Gordon Galia Maor Pansy Ho Françoise Gri Naina Lal Kidwai Yoshiko Shinohara Barbara Dalibard Teresita Sy-Coson Dominique Hériard Dubreuil Imre Barmanbek Dominique Reiniche Sawako Noma Ofra Strauss Clara Gaymard Dong Mingzhu Li Xiaolin Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

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