33% of Russian top women CEOs work for foreign companies

The RBK business magazine published a ranking on October 20 of the top female CEOs in Russian business of 2015. Of them, eight CEOs in the list work for Russian subsidiaries of foreign companies, including BMW Russland Trading, Sanofi Russia and Abbott Russia. More than half the women on the list worked in commerce, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry.

Rankings were based on the profit of the managed company, the number of employees and the increase in revenue in 2015, compared with the average results in the industry.

Russia has largest number of female business leaders

Ksenia Sosnina of ILIM group, among the leading companies in the pulp and paper industry, was ranked in the top position. Before moving to ILIM, Sosnina was president of the Russian branch of the U.S. firm International Paper.

More women head leading companies in Russia than in other countries, according to the rankings. For example, only 21 CEOs in this year’s Fortune magazine ranking of the 500 largest companies in the United States were women, compared with 25 in a similar ranking in Russia. The decision to make a separate rating of female CEOs grew out of that recognition, said the authors of the report.

"In the basic ranking of the best CEOs in Russia, which is called the RBK-500, female CEOs make up a little more than 5 percent. By average world standards, this is a very good result and a well-deserved reason to feature them separately,” wrote RBK Daily.

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