Where the most powerful business women studied

Which Ivy-league school has proven itself the most successful in developing powerful business women? Looking at Fortune‘s list of Most Powerful Women facts point to Harvard University.

Of the 51 women on the 2016 list, nearly 20 per cent graduated from Harvard University - three as undergrads and seven as graduate students. Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg and CVS/Pharmacy president Helena Foulkes attended for both degrees.

According to the Fortune ranking, MBAs are the most popular secondary-degrees among these powerful women with 65 per cent holding the degree. Other popular graduate degrees feature engineering and economics, and three women graduated with a law degree – a Juris Doctor or JD.

Only one of the ranked women, Crystal Hanlon, president of the Northern Division for Home Depot (No. 41), made it to the list despite never completing her degree at the University of Houston.
Here’s where the top ten of this year’s Most Powerful Women studied:

1. Mary Barra, CEO of GM
Undergrad: Kettering University
Graduate: Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA)

2. Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
Undergrad: Madras Christian College in India
Graduate: Indian Institute of Management, Yale University

3. Marillyn Hewson, Chairman, CEO and President of Lockheed Martin
Undergrad: University of Alabama
Graduate: University of Alabama, Columbia Business School (MBA)

4. Ginni Rometty, CEO, Chairman, and President of IBM
Undergrad: Northwestern University
Graduate: Harvard Business School (MBA)

5. Abigail Johnson, CEO and President of Fidelity Investments
Undergrad: Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Graduate: Harvard Business School (MBA)

6. Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook
Undergrad: Harvard University
Graduate: Harvard Business School (MBA)

7. Meg Whitman, CEO, Chairman, and President of HP
Undergrad: Princeton University
Graduate: Harvard Business School (MBA)

8. Phebe Novakovic, Chairman and CEO General Dynamics
Undergrad: Smith College
Graduate: University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business (MBA)

9. Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO of Mondelez
Undergrad: Cornell University
Graduate: Cornell University (MS and Ph.D)