2012 Most Powerful Women In Technology

These 6 Women are the leaders, executives and CEOs of the top Technology companies for 2012.

The six women profiled below are the leaders and executives of largest public technology companies, and for 2012 have earned the distinction of being the “Most Powerful Women In Technology”.

Their ages range from 37 (Marissa Mayer) to 56 (Meg Whitman). With the exception of Ursula Burns (Xerox), each has worked at different companies and in different fields before achieving their current position. One common trait is that of education at a tier one university – Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Columbia or Stanford.

Meg Whitman (56) – President and CEO, Hewlett-Packard A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Ms. Whitman has served at Fortune companies such as The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks, Proctor & Gamble, and Hasbro. She was previously the President and CEO of eBay, where she oversaw the company explosive growth over a ten year period from 1998 to 2008. Prior to joining H-P, Ms. Whitman was the California Republican candidate for Governor, winning the primary in 2010. The election was won by Democratic candidate Jerry Brown and Ms. Whitman returned to the corporate world.

Ursula Burns (54) – Chairman and CEO, Xerox Ms. Burns is one of two woman on this list to hold two technical degrees – a Bachelor of Science (Polytechnic Institute of NYU) and a Master of Science (Columbia). She is also the only one who started with the company early in her career and was promoted through to the top position. Starting at Xerox in 1980 as a mechanical engineering intern, she has held various positions including executive assistant, before being named as Vice President for Global Manufacturing.

Safra Catz (50) – President and CFO, Oracle After emigrating from Israel, Ms. Catz received a BA from the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania and continued on to complete her law degree. Prior to Oracle, she was a Managing Director and then Senior Vice President at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Marissa Mayer (37) – President and CEO, Yahoo Similar to Ms. Burns, Ms. Mayer has two technical degrees, having earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree from Stanford University. She is the only person on this list to have been granted (although only honorary) a PhD from the Illinois Institute of Technology for her continuous efforts in the field of artificial intelligence. Ms. Mayer was able to utilize her engineering background at Google, where she was prior to Yahoo. She is also a minor celebrity following her YouTube interview of Lady Gaga which has over 2M views.

Susan Wojcicki (44) – Senior Vice President, Google The back-story for Ms. Wojcicki is that her garage was the first headquarters for Google when starting out in 1998. She is also the sister-in-law to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Before joining Google, she worked at Intel, and was a management consultant at Bain and R.B. Webber & Company. Sharing alumni status with others on this list, Ms. Wojcicki graduated with honors from Harvard University. Her academics continued with a Master of Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA

Sheryl Sandberg (43) – CEO, FaceBook Probably the wealthiest woman on this list, or second to Ms. Whitman, Ms. Sandberg is also one of the youngest technology CEOs. Her education includes a Bachelor of Art degree from Harvard College and a MBA from Harvard Business School. Prior to FaceBook, Ms. Sandberg was Chief of Staff for the US Department of the Treasury.