Google’s 20th employee stunned the tech world in July when she announced she was leaving the search behemoth to become the new CEO of Yahoo!. Mayer said that she „had an amazing time at Google,” but that ultimately „it was a reasonably easy decision” to take the top job at Yahoo!. In her new role she intends to leverage Yahoo!’s strong franchises in email, finance and sports. The 37-year-old, self-described „geek” joined Google in 1999 shortly after achieving a computer science masters from Stanford University. She is one of the youngest women on our list and joined her first corporate board in 2012: Walmart. Mayer says she has „long been a customer and admirer of the company.” On the same day she announced the move to Yahoo!, Mayer made another announcement to the press: she’s expecting her first child this fall.
