Women CEOs in America 2025
In the 2025 executive summary, we share our newest approach to contextualizing the importance of reinforcing many pipelines for women to ascend to the CEO role.
In addition to reporting on the trends for women’s CEO leadership across the business landscape, this year’s report theme is “Field to Fortune: Athletics and Women CEO Leadership,” offering new analysis that builds on existing research to explore the connection between women’s executive leadership and athletic participation as a pathway to corporate success.
Insights
Women Business Collaborative (WBC) is proud to release the 5th Annual Women CEOs in America Report detailing the status of women CEOs across the business landscape.
In the first section, as with past years, we are reporting the representation of women CEOs, going behind and beyond the numbers to tell a deeper story about what organizations and the women themselves are doing–and need to do–to advance more women to CEO roles. The number of Women CEOs is holding steady, with women CEOs averaging 9.2% of CEOs across the Fortune 1000, S&P 500, Russell 3000, and Private Companies.
Trends by Indices:
- As of June 30, 2025, 55 women lead Fortune 500 companies, accounting for 11% of all CEOs, up from 10.4% in 2024.
- Women now lead 93 companies in the Fortune 1000, representing 9.3% of CEOs, a slight difference from 2024, at 9.8%.
- Women now comprise 9.4% of CEOs in the S&P 500, with 47 women at the helm, up from 7.8% in 2024.
- 227 women CEOs are part of the Russell 3000 (7.6%), down from 9% in 2024.
- Finally, 266 women lead Private Companies with revenue of more than $1 Billion in 2025, steady progress, with a 5.7% increase year-over-year since 2023.
In the second section, we highlight this year’s theme, “Field to Fortune: Athletics and Women CEO Leadership,” offering new analysis that builds on existing research to explore the connection between women’s executive leadership and athletic participation as a pathway to corporate success.
- 10.2% of Women CEOs have an athletic background at a collegiate or elite level.
- Close to two-thirds (62%) of athlete-CEOs are concentrated in healthcare, consumer goods, and technology — sectors defined by performance, adaptability, and constant innovation.
This theme also aligns with WBC’s In the Arena Initiative, which bridges sports and business to advance women into leadership, strengthen organizational performance, and shape a more inclusive future workforce in the sports industry.
Thank you to those partner organizations who made this report possible:
