The 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women list is here—and 11 CFOs made the cut

Earning the top spot is Citigroup chair and CEO Jane Fraser—the first new No. 1 since 2024. Fraser became the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank in 2021, and Citi’s stock is up more than 90% since her appointment, including nearly 80% in the past 12 months. She ranked No. 3 on the 2025 list. You can read more in a Fortune feature on Fraser.

Collectively, the women on this year’s MPW list hold 180 board seats and work across 20 countries and territories. Behind the U.S., the countries with the most honorees are China, with nine, and France and the U.K., with six each. Fortune‘s editors scored each candidate using the metrics listed in the methodology.

Fraser’s ranking reflects the dominance of finance on this year’s list, alongside tech. And 11 of the 100 honorees are finance chiefs:

—Meng Wanzhou, Deputy Chair, Rotating Chair, and CFO, Huawei (No. 12)
—Amy Hood, EVP and CFO, Microsoft (No. 38)
—Susan Li, CFO, Meta Platforms (No. 42)
—Anat Ashkenazi, SVP and CFO, Alphabet and Google (No. 48)
—Colette Kress, EVP and CFO, Nvidia (No. 49)
—Julie Gao, CFO, ByteDance (No. 57)
—Png Chin Yee, CFO, Temasek (No. 77)
—Sinead Gorman, CFO, Shell (No. 86)
—Sarah Friar, CFO, OpenAI (No. 90)
—Anna Manz, EVP and CFO, Nestlé (No. 91)
—Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group (No. 100)

AI and automation are reshaping finance—but competitive advantage comes from how CFOs evolve their teams alongside the tech. This conversation digs into the skills gap to close now, where AI creates new openings, and where human judgment still wins. Leading CFOs will share what’s actually working. Subject matter expert: Casey Caram, Principal, Deloitte
Panelists: Jessica Ross, CFO, GitLab; Marie Myers, CFO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; and Tim Arndt, CFO, Prologis.

You can register here.

Leaderboard

Siddharth "Sid" Thacker was appointed CFO of Peloton Interactive (Nasdaq: PTON), effective June 22. Thacker was previously CFO at Rent the Runway, where he led a financial and operational turnaround over three years in the role. Before becoming CFO, he served as SVP of finance and head of data science. Prior to Rent the Runway, he spent two decades as a public-markets investor. Thacker succeeds interim CFO Saqib Baig, who will remain the company's chief accounting officer. Baig was appointed in March when former CFO Liz Coddington stepped down to pursue another opportunity.

Milan Rao, global chief operating officer and CFO at SS Innovations International (Nasdaq: SSII), a surgical robotics company, is stepping down effective May 25. Rao informed the company on May 18 that he intended to step down, according to an SEC filing. SS Innovations has begun a search for a permanent successor in the CFO role. The filing didn't include reasons for Rao's departure. He joined the company in January. Previously, he was chief operating officer and chief revenue officer at MarketsandMarkets, a research and consulting firm.

Big Deal

Deloitte's report, "Navigating 2025 working capital trends: Priorities for 2026," finds that working capital discipline returned to the spotlight in 2025. Even as many companies delivered growth, cash conversion performance remained uneven—shaped by elevated funding costs, inflationary pressure, and persistent supply-and-demand volatility.

Based on an analysis of 2,300 public companies, Deloitte found that while cash conversion cycles improved modestly in 2025, many gains were driven by short-term levers rather than structural change. As a result, CFOs are taking a more active, disciplined approach to liquidity management to keep cash available for short-term priorities.

Resilience this year will come from embedding working capital management into day-to-day operations, powered by better forecasting, automation, and stronger supplier collaboration, according to Deloitte.

Going deeper

"Why AI Pricing Doesn’t Always Drive Prices Higher" is a report in Wharton's business journal. AI pricing tools are widely feared to fuel price fixing, but they can cut costs and lower prices in many cases, according to new research from Wharton marketing professor Ron Berman and Hangcheng Zhao of Rutgers Business School.

Overheard

"Trust is not a permanent advantage. It’s an asset companies must continuously earn and actively protect."

—Jonathan Jordan, Edelman's U.S. head of corporate reputation, writes in a Fortune opinion piece titled "Your company needs a chief trust officer. Here’s three reasons why."