Anne M. Mulcahy

Mulcahy became Xerox's chief executive in 2001, when it had billions in debt, an accounting investigation and advisers urging bankruptcy. A long-serving insider, she refused bankruptcy, cut costs and nearly a third of jobs, sold assets but protected research spending, and spent much of her time with customers. Xerox was back in profit by 2003 and she handed over to Ursula Burns in 2009, one of the cleaner successions in this list.