Autodesk, Inc.:
In 1992, at age 43, Bartz took the position of CEO for Autodesk, Inc., a moderate-sized computer-aided software design company with average earnings of $300 million. In 1993, Bartz purchased Autodesk from founder Carl Bass, who she fired shortly thereafter. Realizing that Bass was an integral part of the business she quickly rehired him.
During her impressive 14-year reign as CEO, she turned Autodesk into a software giant earning more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue in 2008.