From Forbes "Braly took charge of the country's largest Medicare claims processing business and was pivotal in the integration of WellChoice, which the company acquired in 2005. Now she'll not only run the nation's largest health insurance outfit, but she'll be the only woman heading a Fortune 50 company."

From Forbes "When Patricia Woertz left Chevron after three decades, farming may have been a surprising move. But since taking over ADM - the $37 billion food processing giant - almost a year ago, her life is all about turning corn and soy crops into everything from syrup to ethanol. The move from oilfield to cornfield is no accident: Woertz aims to transform ADM into a leader in renewable fuels."

From Forbes "PepsiCo's Indian-born CEO is running a different company than the one she joined nearly 13 years ago. And that's how she wants it. She played a large role in selling off restaurant businesses including KFC and Pizza Hut, and replacing them with brands like Tropicana and Quaker. And after five years playing number-cruncher and dealmaker, she became CEO last October."

From Forbes "With a few rare exceptions, losing extra weight rarely means packing on sausages and hot dogs. But since 2005, Brenda Barnes has continued to focus on food aisle products like Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park hot dogs and shed brands like Hanes to decrease Sara Lee's bulk. Before she took over as the company's personal trainer, Barnes famously left her job at PepsiCo after 22 years and took a six-year leave to raise her three children."

From Forbes "TJX stores like T.J.Maxx and Marshall's are surefire destinations for bargain hunters. And for newly appointed CEO, Carol Meyrowitz, keeping the deals coming will not be her only challenge. The 24-year retail veteran inherits a messy roster of lawsuits resulting from the millions of credit card numbers and other personal information stolen from the company's computers."

From Forbes "Rite Aid is in much better shape than it was in 1999, when Sammons joined as President in the middle of accounting scandal. Four years later when she took over as CEO, the company was still losing money, but it had survived bankruptcy. These days Sammons is busy assimilating the recent $3.4 billion Brooks and Eckerd purchase."

From Forbes "Even for someone like Anne Mulcahy, who had spent nearly 20 years at Xerox, collating its problems seemed next to impossible when she took over in 2001. At the time, the company was buried in $15 billion of debt and an SEC scandal. Onlookers were sure that Xerox was destined for Chapter 11. Despite this, Mulcahy managed to dig out by drastically cutting the workforce and steadily increasing innovations (they've launched 100 new products in the last three years)."

From Forbes "Corporate recovery might become Patricia Russo's specialty, if it isn't already. In the late nineties she helped AT&T turn around its failing business-systems division, which eventually became part of Lucent. And after a quick stop at troubled Kodak in 2001, she returned the following year to revive Lucent. After two years of first aid, which included slashing jobs and streamlining costs, Lucent returned to profitability in 2004. Now the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent has hit a bump - the share price is down and the company issued a profit warning - so she still may have her work cut out for her."