FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen
Linda Cook Rank: 4 (2004 rank: 7)
Company: Royal Dutch Shell Based in: The Netherlands Title: Executive Director, Gas & Power
As one of five members of Shell's executive committee, Cook, 47, is the highest-ranked woman at the world's third-largest oil company, overseeing a division that last year delivered $2.2 billion in earnings on $9.6 billion in revenue. Cook's gas and power unit, one of four at the reconfigured Shell, isn't the largest division, but it is strategic: Demand for liquefied natural gas is expected to grow by 10% a year over the next decade.
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.
