5 Companies You Didn’t Know Were Run By Women

Despite what many people will say, mostly men, it’s generally known that women aren’t given the same shots when it comes to occupying leading positions at companies, which at the very least, was not the case for these 5 companies you didn’t know were run by women.

Regardless of the industry we’re talking about, or whether we’re discussing politics, gender discrimination is blooming all over the world. Women occupy fewer leading positions, get elected far less often (with women even losing to bigots who chastise them for not being married, as was the case in Moldova’s recent election), and get paid less than men occupying similar spots, and that’s a fact. That’s why we recently compiled a list of the 11 Best Paying Jobs for Women in America, to give our female readers or their supporters a chance to find industries that fully embrace them.

Curious about some stats? Well, Catalyst writes that women currently hold 23 of the CEO positions at the companies included on the S&P 500. Those companies are General Motors, Mylan, Xerox, Ventas, Reynolds American, Oracle Corp, Duke Energy Corp, Staples, The Progressive Corp, Lockheed Martin Corp, Occidental Petroleum Corp, Tegna, Yahoo, KeyCorp, Campbell Soup, PepsiCo, General Dynamics, CMS Energy, Sempra Energy, Ross Stores, IBM, Mondelez International, and HP Enterprise.

Other reports indicate that almost four in ten businesses in the G7 countries don’t have women in senior management positions, although at a global level the proportion of senior business roles held by women rose to 24% from 22% in 2015. Thankfully, things seem to be getting better when it comes to having more balanced gender distribution when it comes to the leading positions within companies.

To further shed light on the matter, we’ve decided to take a look at 5 of the aforementioned companies you didn’t know were run by women, and see how they’ve fared under a woman’s touch.

5. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)

We are starting off our list of companies you didn’t know were run by women with Lockheed Martin, that is a company operating in the aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technologies industries. Formed through the merger of Lockheed Corp and Martin Marietta in 1995, this is a company that employs over 126,000 people throughout the world.

Who runs it all? Marilyn Hewson, the company’s current President and CEO, a woman who was named the 20^th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2015.

She started off at Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) back in 1983 and climbed her way up the corporate ladder, holding multiple positions, including President and Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and more. In November 2012, she became a member of the company’s Board of Directors and in January 2013 she became the company’s CEO.

Under her command, the company doubled its market cap and has made some interesting moves. For instance, in the summer of 2015 they acquired Sikorsky Aircraft, expanding the company’s production capability to helicopters. Overall, the company’s focus has shifted towards building military hardware, which means it could be poised to get a lot more government contracts in the future, with Donald Trump planning to spend heavily on defense.

The company produces quite a few big names in the aerospace field, including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, ARES, the CH-35 Helicopter, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-22 Raptor, the F-35 Lightning II, and more.

4. Reynolds American, Inc. (NYSE:RAI)

We move from high-tech military equipment to the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, which ranks 4th in our list of companies you didn’t know were run by women and which produced brands such as Camel, Pall Mall, Kent, and more.

The president and CEO of this S&P 500 company is Susan Cameron, born in New York in 1958. She has a B.S. in business from the University of Florida and an MBA from Bellarmine University, both obtained in the nearly 80’s. In that same period of time she got a job at Brown & Williamson, getting promotion after promotion, and working her way up the corporate ladder. By 1994 she was named Director of Marketing in China, and in 1996 she became the head of International Brands. In 2001 she became the first woman CEO of a major cigarette company.

Following the 2004 merger between Brown & Williamson and R.J. Reynolds, Reynolds American, Inc. (NYSE:RAI) was created and Cameron became the president and CEO of the new company, also being named Chairman two years later.

Cameron has helped the company expand its business away from traditional tobacco products towards smokeless tobacco and dissolvables. She took a break for a few years from both the position of Chairwoman and CEO, and upon returning, kickstarted a $27.4 billion deal to acquire Lorillard, a producer of brands such as Newport, Kent and Max.

3. Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS)

Another big company with some 3,000 stores globally is Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), offering office supplies including staples (logical), office furniture, and even computers and computer accessories.

The company’s CEO and President is Shira Goodman, who also holds a seat on its Board of Directors. She joined the company back in 1992 and has worked her way up, serving in key leadership positions, including President of the North American Operations, Executive Vice President of Global Growth, Executive VP of Human Resources, and EVP of Marketing. She was appointed interim Chief Executive Officer in May 2016, with the “interim” part of her title being removed in late-September.

Since she’s only occupied the position for a short time, there’s not much that can be said about her achievements just yet. She does plan to focus on accelerating the company’s growth with mid-market consumers in North America, while also building on the company’s momentum with products and services beyond office supplies. And now, let’s see the top two companies you didn’t know were run by women.

2. KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY)

KeyCorp ranks second in our list of companies you didn’t know were run by women is a bank holding company that operates through its subsidiary KeyBank, and has over 20,000 employees. There are over 1,200 branches of the company across the United States. Created in 1994 through the merger of Society Corporation of Cleveland and KeyCorp, the new company was the result of one of the largest banking mergers in history.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY)’s CEO and Chairman is Beth E. Mooney, who has occupied the position since May 1, 2011. Between November 2010 and the date when she was appointed CEO, Mooney was the President and Chief Operating Officer at KeyCorp. She’s been with the company since 2006, having previously worked various managerial positions for other financial institutions.

In 2011 when she took on the job of CEO, KeyCorp was an institution with approximately $90 billion in assets. Following the company’s merger with First Niagara in 2015 that figure surged to over $135 billion, after having spent only $4.1 billion on the acquisition.

1. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)

The first on our list of companies you didn’t know were run by women is Occidental Petroleum Corporation, also known as Oxy, which is an American oil and gas exploration and production company that operates in the United States, as well as the Middle East and South America.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is run by Vicki A. Hollub, a woman who has worked for Oxy for about three decades, starting in 1981 as an operations manager. In 2011 she was promoted to President and General Manager, before taking on the role of President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2016. A year prior, it had been announced that she would be taking the top spot in the company as she worked alongside former CEO Stephen Chazen to assure a smooth transition. Chazen officially stepped down during the company’s 2016 annual meeting.

While she hasn’t been at the wheel of Oxy for a long time, Hollub’s takeover is seen as a positive by investors, as the company’s stock keeps rising. In late-October, Hollub also announced the acquisition of acreage and interests in enhanced oil recovery assets in the Permian Basin for $2 billion.

This wraps up the list of 5 Companies You Didn’t Know Were Run By Women. Let us know your thoughts on these and other prominent businesswomen below.

Disclosure: None