FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen
Yang Mianmian Rank: 15 (2004 rank: 8)
Company: Haier Group Based in: China Title: President
Much of Haier's success over the past two decades, as it grew from a Qingdao refrigerator factory into a $12.2 billion global home-appliance giant, can be attributed to Yang's "one low, three high" strategy. (The one low is cost; the three highs are value, growth, and quality.) As Haier's president for the past five years, Yang, 64, has pushed the company into international markets (it sells more than half of the small refrigerators in the U.S.). And although Haier failed in its bid to acquire Maytag this year, Yang's drive remains as strong as ever.
From the November 14, 2005 issue
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.
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.
