FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen
Mary Ma Rank: 9 (2004 rank: 14)
Company: Lenovo Based in: China Title: Chief Financial Officer
Ma was one of the chief architects of Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's PC business last year—the largest Chinese takeover of an American company and a deal that puts the computer manufacturer in third place in the industry, behind only Dell and Hewlett-Packard, with expected revenue this year of $13 billion. The 52-year-old Ma, who started out as an English translator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been instrumental in the company's drive to become a global player.
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.
