The numbers are still disappointing when looking at women in technology. While there are a lot of women in top positions outside of technology, such as at eBay, Kraft and PepsiCo, it's a smaller club within technology. While there are a number of CEOs, including Yahoo's Carol Bartz and Xerox's Ursula Burns, the bulk of female power seems to be concentrated in the vice presidents, COOs and CTOs. Women tend to be second-in-command and leaders of major divisions. That's not a bad place to be, considering where women were only a few short years ago. Some of these women are currently being considered, or have been recently, considered on the shortlist of executives being groomed to take over the chief executive positions at their respective companies. Regardless of their exact title, vice president, CIO, COO, CTO, these executives have a direct input into shaping and driving the company's strategy. Now that's power. Google has plenty of women in senior positions, including one on its Board of Directors and at least three vice presidents, at last count. It was hard to pick just one woman in a senior executive position at Google. But we managed, thanks to the fact there were plenty of other women in powerful positions at other companies to choose from. In no particular order, here are some of the most powerful female executives in technology today.
10 Powerful Women Cracking the Glass Ceiling in Technology
Marissa MayerGoogle, Vice President
As the vice president of search products and user experience at Google, Marissa Mayer is in charge of some of the most popular products, namely Search, but also Maps, Earth, Health and iGoogle. One of the company's original 20 employees and Google's first female engineer, she also added local advertising to her list of responsibilities this year.
Virginia ‘Ginni' M. RomettyIBM, Senior Vice President
As senior vice president and group excutive for IBM Sales, Marketing and Strategy, Ginni Rometty is accountable for revenue, profit and client satisfaction at IBM. The former head of IBM Global Business Services, she helped transform IBM into a technology company and not just a computer manufacturer. She is often named as a possible successor to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano.
Safra A CatzOracle, President
Safra Catz has been one of the two presidents at Oracle since 2004. She drives Oracle's acquisition strategy and has been responsible for some of the company's biggest deals, including the long-disputed PeopleSoft buyout and Sun Microsystems. Fortune included her on its list of the 25 highest-paid women in 2010.
Padmasree WarriorCisco, CTO
As chief technology officer, Padmasree Warrior is an evangelist for what's possible, driving strategic partnerships and new business models. She is also moving Cisco toward more "unified" computing for increased efficiency, cost savings and security.
Polly SumnerSalesforce.com, Chief Adoption Officer
While "Chief Adoption Officer" is an unfamiliar title, Polly Sumner's role is not. At Salesforce.com, Sumner is responsible for ensuring that customers are getting what they need from Salesforce products. Considering how critical it is to the company's bottom line that the customers keep coming back, she wields considerable influence over the company's strategy.
Ann LivermoreHewlett-Packard, Executive Vice President
The executive vice president of HP Enterprise Business, Ann Livermore was one of the names whispered when HP was looking for a new CEO shortly after Mark Hurd left. Her $53.6 billion unit delivers servers, storage, software and services (the old EDS) for corporate clients.
Diane BryantCIO, Intel
As vice president and CIO of Intel, Diane Bryant is responsible for the company's IT organization. The former director of engineering of the mobile products group at Intel, she personally holds three patents for mobile computing. She works on the company's overall strategy and sees mobile as a priority.
Gerri Martin-FlickingerAdobe, CIO
As the CIO of Adobe, Gerri Martin-Flickinger oversees the global Information Technology team and provides direction on new products and development. She is also responsible for its hosted services and developing enterprise applications built with Adobe products and technologies.
Sheryl SandbergFacebook, COO
The former Google executive joined Facebook in 2008 as the COO of the social networking site. She manages sales, marketing, acquisitions, partnerships, human resources, public policy and communications, leaving CEO Mark Zuckerberg free to focus on designing new features for the site.
Katie CottonApple, Vice President
While not specifically in a technology role, as vice president of worldwide corporate communications, Katie Cotton has managed Apple's brand and corporate image. She played a role in product launches for the iPod, iPhone and iPad.