It’s that time of year we celebrate women and their successes, and more importantly the difference they make to the world in their own inimitable way. In the corporate realm, many women have ascended to the highest echelons of power, reshaping industries and leaving indelible marks on their companies.
But just how successful they have been? Assuming the performance of the stock as a proxy for their success, here’s a look at how women CEOs of the biggest corporations have fared over the past year.
Women At Helm: It’s heartening for me as one of their kind to see the successes of many women head honchos. As someone who covers tech and electric vehicles, I do not have to look beyond my beat to find inspiration. Someone like Dr. Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD turned around the fortunes of the chipmaker, which before she assumed reins was a distant second to Intel. The significance of her visionary leadership and direction has had a big role in the turnaround of the Santa Clara, California-based company.
Hard data, however, points out that women’s representation is still underwhelming. Women CEOs of S&P 500 companies numbered only 41 or 8.2% of the S&P 500 companies in 2023, an article on the Harvard Law School Forum said, citing data from Catalyst. The article mentions three potential reasons for the under-representation – potential differences in skills between male and female CEOs, restricted female labor supply and board preferences.
Citing data from executive placement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Research.com said the highest representation of female CEOs is in the apparel industry (67%), followed by retail (42%), financial services (24.5%) and food (23%).
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Here’s A Look At One-Year Returns From Female-helmed Companies:
| S&P 500 Companies | CEOs | Shares Acquired With $1,000 Investment (as of March 6, 2023) | Dollar Value Of Holding (by March 7, 2024) | Return (in %) |
| AMD | Lisa Su | 12.32 | $2,604.49 | 160.45% |
| Arista Networks | Jayshree Ullal | 7.01 | $2,009.26 | 100.93% |
| Accenture | Julie Sweet | 3.77 | $1,457.12 | 45.71% |
| Vertex Pharma | Reshma Kewalramani | 3.43 | $1,407.79 | 40.78% |
| Progressive Corp. | Tricia Griffith | 6.92 | $1,356.29 | 35.63% |
| Celanese | Lori Ryerkerk | 8.52 | $1,334.75 | 33.48% |
| Ross Stores | Barbara Rentler | 9 | $1,314.43 | 31.44% |
| CDW | Christine Leahy | 4.99 | $1,237.86 | 23.79% |
| Oracle | Safra Catz | 11.31 | $1,295.85 | 20.59% |
| General Dynamics | Phebe Novakovic | 4.4 | $1,201.45 | 20.15% |
| Tapestry | Joanne Crevoiserat | 23.98 | $1,125.15 | 12.52% |
| Zoetis | Kristin Peck | 5.95 | $1,079.45 | 7.95% |
| Nasdaq | Adena Friedman | 18.13 | $1,071.97 | 7.20% |
| Clorox | Linda Rendle | 6.79 | $1,045.20 | 4.52% |
| Duke Energy | Lynn Good | 10.89 | $1,304.30 | 3.43% |
| Best Buy | Corie Barry | 12.76 | $1,014.93 | 1.49% |
| Regency Centers | Lisa Palmer | 16.39 | $1,007.05 | 0.71% |
| Occidental Petroleum | Vicki Hollub | 16.47 | $1,005.27 | 0.53% |
| Franklin Resources | Jenny Johnson | 35.82 | $1,000.72 | 0.07% |
| PG&E | Patricia Poppe | 59.77 | $991.63 | -0.84% |
| Northrop Grumman | Kathy Warden | 2.16 | $986.98 | -1.30% |
| General Motors | Mary Barra | 25 | $983.75 | -1.63% |
| Ventas | Debra Cafaro | 21.28 | $926.38 | -7.36% |
| UPS | Carol Tomé | 5.59 | $857.28 | -14.27% |
| Hershey | Michele Buck | 4.26 | $820.88 | -17.91% |
It has to be noted here that the investment returns are not comparable across these companies as they belong to several sectors and industries.
Accordingly, their advantages and challenges may have differed. Su, named AMD CEO in 2014, has generated the highest return among the S&P 500 CEOs. This does not come off as a surprise as techs led the market recovery in 2023 following a bearish year for stocks in 2020.
In the same period, the S&P 500 has generated 27.39%. Seven of the CEOs we discussed have generated above-average returns for investors.
In premarket trading, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY climbed 0.16% to $514.81, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Image made via photos on Wikimedia Commons and Flickr
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