Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women Includes 3 Area CEOs

Forbes magazine released its 2014 list of the 100 most powerful women in the world this week.

The list is a veritable Who's Who in the worlds of politics, government, entertainment and business. And it's no surprise the list includes three area residents — Indra Nooyi of Greenwich, who's the CEO of PepsiCo; Ursula Burns of Norwalk, the CEO of Xerox and Bonnie Hammer of Westport, the chairman of Cable Entertainment Group, NBCUniversal and Comcast.

At the top of the list is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Other notables on the list include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, philantropist Melinda Gates, and entertainment titans Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce and Sofia Vergara, and media mogul Arianna Huffington. 

According to Forbes, Nooyi, who's listed at No. 13 on the list, her success of leading the food and beverage giant is due "Thinking outside the soda can." This isn't the first time the 58-year-old Nooyi made the Top 100 list — last year she came in at No. 10.

Burns, 55, made the list at No. 22, according to Forbes, "in her five years as CEO, Ursula Burns has managed to make Xerox — once only known for its carbon copies — a viable and profitable company" as the world speeds to "a paperless future." 

Hammer, who earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boston University, made the last in 2013 at No. 61. This year she moved up the list to No. 42 while heading up NBCUniversal's cable group. The 63-year-old Hammer is leading a division that's cranking up 50 percent of the company's revenue, according to Forbes.