As per Fortune’s latest list, 41 women are Fortune 500 CEOs. In fact, this is the first time ever that two Black women — Roz Brewer from Walgreens Boots Alliance and Thasunda Brown Duckett from TIAA — are serving as CEOs at the same time. Furthermore, Jane Fraser at Citi Group has made history as the first woman to helm a major US bank, and in a first, a woman —Karen Lynch— is at the helm of the highest-ranked Fortune 500 company, CVS Health.
Karen Lynch
It is interesting to note that Lynch took over as CVS Health’s CEO in February 2021, post her stint as Aetna’s president. Soon after Brewer, stepped into her role as CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance in March. Both women have played a crucial role in helping an effective rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“We continue to see steady progress in the Fortune 500, with a handful of women and two [new] women of colour being elevated into CEO roles,” Lorraine Hariton, CEO of the global gender equality firm Catalyst told CNBC Make It. However, she insists, “there’s more work to do.” At the moment, women leaders hold just 8.1 per cent of Fortune 500 CEO spots.