20 Powerful Women Ruling The Business World

Mellody Hobson is a crucial part of issuing diversity training for Starbucks, where she serves as a director after it was criticized for racial bias. Shutterstock.

15. Mellody Hobson

Hobson is the President and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, where she has helped quadruple the firm’s assets under management from post-crisis lows to a current total of $13 billion. Formerly, she was the chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation. After graduating from Princeton in 1991, she joined Ariel Investments as an Intern and made her way to become the firm’s senior vice president and director of marketing.

She is a regular on CBS This Morning and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Investment Trust. Hobson spends a lot of her time speaking about social issues such as racism and financial literacy. Hobson joined JPMorgan Chase’s annual letter alongside CEO Jamie Dimon, detailing programs designed to lift up disadvantaged black communities.