Sunoco CEO Ranks Among Most Powerful Women

PHILADELPHIA -- Sunoco CEO Lynn Laverty Elsenhans has been named one of the world's most powerful women for the fourth straight year. She took the reins at the major oil company in 2008.

This year, Elsenhans came in at No. 46 on the Forbes World's Most Powerful Women list. In previous years, she sat at No. 39 (2008), No. 10 (2009) and No. 36 (2010). Among other women on the list are Hillary Clinton (No. 2), Michelle Obama (No. 8), Oprah Winfrey (No. 14), Diane Sawyer (No. 47) and Queen Elizabeth II (No. 49).

Elsenhans is the first women to run a major oil company, according to the magazine. This year could prove tough for the company after registering a $101-million first-quarter loss, which Elsenhans called "unacceptable." The loss was partly attributed to rising crude oil costs and outages at major refineries. She now plans to focus on Sunoco's retail and fuel logistics businesses while reducing refining operations.

During her tenure at the top, Sunoco has closed or sold three refineries. This year so far, according to the report, the company added 250 retail gas stations and spun off its cokemaking business, which supplies raw materials to international steelmakers as SunCoke Energy.

Elsenhans earned a degree in applied mathematics from Rice University in Texas in 1978 and a master's of business administration from Harvard in 1980. This past spring, she was re-appointed to the Rice University board of trustees; she previously served on the board from 2002 to 2010.