Maor - Most powerful Israeli businesswoman
Photo: Avigail Ozi
Strauss - Moved up
Photo: Yisrael Hadari
2 Israeli women on Fortune’s top 50 list
Business executives Galia Maor, Ofra Strauss make prestigious list of world’s most powerful businesswomen
Galia Maor, president and CEO of Bank Leumi and Ofra Strauss, chairman of the Elite-Strauss Group are the two Israeli representatives in Fortune magazine's list of the world's 50 most powerful businesswomen.
Maor climbed three spots compared to last year, to 32nd spot, in the prestigious list, while Struass climbed from 46th to 42nd spot.
The three top spots on the list remained unchanged this year. Fortune ranked Anne Lauvergeon, chairman of French state-owned nuclear power conglomerate Areva Group as the most powerful woman in the world.
Second on the list came Xie Qihua, chairman of China's largest steel manufacturer Shanghai Baosteel Group, and third was Marjorie Scardino, CEO of the British publishing and education company Pearson.
Linda Cook, executive director of the Gas and Power department at Royal Dutch Shell made it to fourth spot, after taking seventh in 2004.
Japanese taking over
Two Japanese women have won places on the list's top ten. First is Tomoyo Nonaka, chairman and CEO of Sanyo Electric, who was ranked fifth. Fumiko Hayashi, chairman and CEO of the Japanese giant supermarket Daiei chain made it to 10th spot..
Marina Berlusconi, daughter of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who currently heads the family-owned media corporate Fininvest, took sixth spot, after ranking ninth last year.
Mary Ma, chief financial officer of China's Lenovo, which too kover IBM last year, made it to ninth place in 2005.
