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The Most Powerful Women In Tech 2015

This article is more than 8 years old.

For the fourth consecutive year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has been named the most powerful woman in technology on the Forbes’ Power Women list, placing eighth on the list overall. Sandberg is powerful not only as a billionaire executive of one of the most influential companies in the world, but also as a voice for female empowerment in the workplace as the author of the 2013 best-selling book Lean In.

Sandberg isn’t the only familiar face on the list. Many of these powerful leaders have long since established themselves in the tech sector. Claiming 18 spots on the list, these leaders continue to be the face of success in a tech culture that has gained a reputation for being unwelcoming to women.

Seven Silicon Valley executives made it into the top 25 on the Power Women list. After Sandberg, the same five CEOs have traded ranks with each other as the top women in tech since Forbes started tracking tech as its own category four years ago. This year, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (No. 9 overall) took the No. 2 spot in tech from IBM CEO Virginia “Ginni” Rometty (No. 13), who had held the spot for the past three years. Rometty is this year’s third most powerful woman in tech, followed by in quick succession by HP CEO Meg Whitman (No. 14), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer (No. 22), and newly promoted Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz (No. 24). Along with Apple Senior VP Angela Ahrendts (No. 25), these seven women demonstrate that the tech sector is a major source of power in today’s world--only politics has as many women in the top quarter of the list.

Only two newcomers joined the ranks of tech’s most powerful women this year. Former Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat (No. 32) traded her influence on Wall Street for power in Silicon Valley when she became Google CFO in May 2015. The move elevated her 58 spots on the list since her last appearance in 2011. Newcomer GGV Managing Partner Jenny Lee takes the 98th spot overall, one of only two venture capitalists to make the list. She cracked the top 10 on the Forbes Midas List earlier this year, becoming the highest ranked woman in the list’s history.

See the full list below:

 

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