A mining magnate, former PM, a banker and a colleague of Elon Musk are among the Australian women on Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women List.
A mining magnate, former PM, banker and colleague of Elon Musk are among the Australian women on Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women List
Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women List for 2022 features four very influential Australian women.
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart – Hancock Prospecting executive chairman – is ranked the most powerful Australian women on the list (number 45). Worth an estimated US$27.7 billion and the 48th richest person on the planet, the mining magnate re-built her late father’s financially distressed company and is Australia’s second-largest cattle producer.
Macquarie Group CEO and MD Shemara Wikramanayake was the next highest ranked Australian women on the list (number 52). Wikramanayake, who was born in the UK and spent her childhood in England and Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia at age 13, worked for Macquarie Capital for 20 years before being appointed head of Macquarie Asset Management in 2008. In 2018 she became CEO and MD of the group.
Tesla Chair, Robyn Denholm, was ranked number 64 on the list. Denholm joined the electric vehicle innovator’s board as an independent director in 2014 and, in 2018, succeeded Elon Musk as its chair. She was previously CFO of Telstra, and is currently operating partner of Blackbird Ventures and chair of the Technology Council of Australia.
Former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of Wellcome Trust, Julia Gillard, also made the list, ranked at number 90. Gillard was the first female Prime Minister of Australia, a role she served from 2010 to 2013. In April 2021, Gillard became the chair of the UK’s Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research foundation with a more-than 25 billion pound endowment. Gillard is passionate about human rights and penned the infamous misogyny speech to parliament in 2012.
Topping the global list was Ursula von der Leyen, who in her role as President of the European Commission announced three major economic sanctions against Russia just a week after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Belgian-born leader banned transactions with Russia’s central bank, closed airspace to the country’s plane travel and barred Kremlin-owned news agencies. Von der Lyen’s influence is unique. No other woman on the list formulates policy on behalf of 450 million people.
More on the full Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women List can be found here.
Australian women: Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women
1. Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman, Hancock Prospecting
2. Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO & MD Macquarie Group
3. Robyn Denholm, Chair, Telsa
4. Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister and Chair Wellcome Trust
Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women
1. Ursula von der Leyen – President, European Commission, European Union (Belgium)
2. Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank (Germany)
3. Kamala Harris, Vice President, United States (USA)
4. Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors (USA)
5. Abigail Johnson, CEO, Fidelity Investments (USA)
6. Melinda French Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (USA)
7. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister, Italy (Italy)
8. Karen Lynch, CEO, CVS Health (USA)
9. Julie Sweet, Chair & CEO, Accenture (USA)
10. Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup (USA)