She is leading SingTel's efforts to roll out superfast mobile broadband service in Singapore that offers higher bandwidth under a newâ"and more profitableâ"pricing plan, a move that will be closely watched as operators struggle to monetize data usage. Chua, an accountancy honors grad of what is now the National University of Singapore, became CFO in 1999 and CEO in 2007.
9. Chew Gek Khim, Singapore
Chew is reshaping 124-year-old Straits Trading into one of Asia's most dynamic investment holding companies. She was appointed chairman in 2009. Earlier this year the company, which has a market cap of $786 million, reportedly voted to oust the board chairman of WBLâ"in which it owns an 18% stakeâ"because it was displeased with the conglomerate's performance.
8. Cheung Yan, China
Known in China as the "Queen of Trash," Cheung Yan founded Nine Dragons Paper, a Hong Kong-listed company that makes packaging materials in China by recycling wastepaper imported from the U.S. Eldest of 8 children of an army officer, whose government connections aided her success. After working in the textile industry in Guangdong and at a paper-trading company in Shenzhen, Cheung moved to Hong Kong in 1985 to set up her own paper-trading outfit, then to Los Angeles in 1990 to establish a U.S. counterpart.
7. Linda Chen, Macau
Chen is a possible successor to billionaire Steve Wynn, for whom she has worked on and off since 1989, when he opened the Mirage Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Also a board director of the parent, Wynn Resorts, Chen moved to Macau in 2003, opened Wynn Macau in 2006 and oversaw a quadrupling of its annual revenue to $4.5 billion in 2011 from $1 billion in its first year of operation.
6. Eva Chen, Japan
Chen is CEO of Trend Micro, a leading supplier of security software. She founded the company with her sister, Jenny Chang, and brother-in-law, Steve Chang, in Los Angeles in 1988, before moving headquarters to Tokyo in 1992. Trend Micro's acquisition of Third Brigade of Canada in 2009 helped it focus on security for cloud computing and virtualization technology
5. Solina Chau, Hong Kong
A confidante of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, Chau is known for her in-depth knowledge of China and the technology sector, having helped Cheung Kong and sister company Hutchison Whampoa to set up investment operations there.
4. Laura Cha, Hong Kong
Her career got off to a late start as she waited until her 2 children were in primary school before attending law school in California in the 1980s. Became a regulator at Hong Kong's Securities & Futures Commission in the 1990s, where she paved the way for the first Chinese state-owned firms to list on the local stock exchange.
3. Shobhana Bhartia, India
Media baroness hails from the storied Birla business clan. She joined her family's media empire in 1985 at the age of 28, eventually transforming it from a stodgy publisher into fast-growing listed outfit HT Media. It publishes the Hindustan Times, India's second-largest English newspaper, with 3.7 million readers.
2. Vinita Bali, India
Superstar manager returned home in 2005 to be with her ailing parents after a successful career overseas, notably with Cadbury and Coca-Cola in Atlanta. Took charge of troubled food company Britannia Industries, maker of popular biscuits like Marie and Tiger, and turned it around. Under her 7-year watch company's market cap has more than doubled to $1.1 billion and revenue is up nearly threefold to $841 million.
1. Karen Agustiawan, Indonesia
Started her career in the oil and gas industry in 1984 at Mobil Oil and Halliburton Indonesia. Joined state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina in 2006 as expert staff to the director for the upstream business. In 2009 she was named president director, the first woman to hold the top position at the firm. View the Complte List at: http://www.forbes.com
