Rio de Janeiro – Petrobras president Graça Foster was elected the most powerful businesswoman outside the United States by North American magazine Fortune. The magazine ranks the American businesswomen and also businesswomen from outside the country. The classification took into consideration four criteria: importance and size of the business led by the executive in the global economy, the success and business management, the trajectory of the executive’s career and her social and cultural influence.
This was the second year running that Graça Foster is considered the most powerful businesswoman by the magazine, among 50 candidates from several countries and sectors, like England, Australia, Sweden and Turkey.
Maria das Graças Foster is a chemical engineer and a career employee at Petrobras, where she started as an intern 30 years ago. She is the first woman to manage the state-owned company. She was inaugurated as president in February last year and has already been the Gas and Energy director at the company and has also headed Petrobras Distribuidora, among other executive posts.
Fortune Magazine considers Petrobras one of the largest companies in the world. This year, the company came in 25th place, with revenues of US$ 144 billion. The Brazilian state-owned company plans to invest US$ 236 billion by 2017.
*Translated by Mark Ament
