FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen
Wanda Rapaczynski Rank: 45 (2004 rank: 48)
Company: Agora Based in: Poland Title: President
Before becoming a media mogul, Rapaczynski, 57, was a psychology professor in New York, a vice president at Citibank, a revolutionary (publishing an underground Solidarity newspaper in Poland), and a startup entrepreneur. Now she runs Central Europe's biggest publishing company (2004 revenue: $305 million), which owns three newspapers, 12 magazines, a web portal, and several radio stations. But she's facing new competition from Germany's Springer, whose new Polish tabloid is now No. 1 in the market.
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.
