Wonder Woman: Angela Ahrendts

The current SVP of retail and online stores at Apple, Angela Ahrendts has a golden touch for business. Known as one of the highest-paid female executives on both sides of the Atlantic, she is the first woman on CEO Tim Cook’s executive team at Apple, where she is tasked with the Herculean responsibility of overseeing 400+ brick-and-mortar stores, as well as online retail efforts. Cook has said of her: "I had never met anyone whom I felt confident could lead both until I met Angela."

Her career began when she moved to New York City from Indiana, to work in the fashion industry. After a series of leadership positions at Liz Claiborne, Donna Karan International, and Henri Bendel, she moved to the UK to join Burberry. As CEO of Burberry, she is credited with tripling revenues to more than $3 billion during her 8-year tenure at the fashion label. Ahrendts says she does not model her business approach after any other fashion house, but looks to world class design as an influence. She hopped back across the pond in May 2014 to join Apple. We are sure to hear more about this groundbreaking executive over the next few years.

Angela lives in Cupertino, CA with her husband and her three children. She has recently been honored as one of Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, Fast Company’s  Most Creative People in Business, Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, and Financial Times Women of 2013.