Fortune Magazine is out with their 2021 list of Fortune 500 companies, and a record-setting 41 women are leading American companies on this year’s list.
Last year, only 38 of the companies on the list were run by women.
For the first time in the history of this list of top companies, two Black women are serving as CEOs at the same time; Roz Brewer at Walgreens Boots Alliance and Thasunda Brown Duckett at TIAA.
Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016, was the first Black woman to head a Fortune 500 company.
Karen Lynch at CVS Health is making history as head of the highest-ranked Fortune 500 company ever led by a woman, with the health care retail company ranked at No. 4.
With 41 women leading Fortune 500 companies, that still means only about 8% of the companies are being run by women.
Some industry leaders say to keep seeing more women and people of color leading companies, there needs to be stated targets and measurable goals for companies and their boards to create candidate pipelines to the top positions, according to CNBC.
This is the 67th ranking of top American companies compiled by Fortune.
