Highest-paid female CEOs: Snacks and grain execs in top 10

The median pay for female CEOs rose 21% in 2014 to $15.9m, according to findings. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, was the highest-paid with an income of $42.1m for the year – up 69% on 2013.

Despite an IT exec topping the earnings charts, four women from the snack, grains and ingredient sectors gained places in the top 10 earnings list.

PepsiCo​

Indra Nooyi​, CEO of PepsiCo, was the highest earner among her food counterparts, placing fourth in the top 10 list with earnings of $19.1m in 2014 – up 45% from 2013.

Nooyi drove forward a ‘Better Together’ strategy over the past year, focused on merging and co-branding beverage and snacks​. She also backed a number of interactive marketing campaigns​, including Lay’s ‘Do us a Flavor’ and Doritos Jacked ‘Mystery Flavor’.

ADM​

Patricia Woertz​, CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, placed eighth in the top 10 list with earnings of $16.3m in 2014 – up 138% from 2013.

Woertz led ADM through a series of M&A activity in 2014, including the purchase of WILD flavors for $3.1bn​ and the sell-off of its chocolate business ADM Cocoa to Cargill for $440m​. She also negotiated the attempted A$3.4bn buy-out of GrainCorp in 2013, but it was blocked in November​.

Mondelez​

Irene Rosenfeld​, CEO of Mondelez International, placed ninth in the top 10 list with earnings of $15.9m in 2014 – up 14% from 2013.

Rosenfeld navigated Mondelez through its second year as the global snacks spin-off of Kraft Foods, created in 2012​. During 2014, she instigated the acquisition of Vietnamese biscuit leader Kinh Do​ and also strengthened sustainability commitments around palm oil​.

DuPont​

Ellen Kullman​, CEO of DuPont, placed tenth in the world’s highest-paid female CEOs with earnings of $13.1m in 2014 – down 1% from 2013.

Kullman steered DuPont through difficulties surrounding its GM maize DuPont Pioneer 1507, which was voted against by a majority of EU member states​. She also backed a commitment made by the head of DuPonts nutrition & health division to launch 4,000 food-related products in the next six years​.