黛博拉•里德

    公司：塞莫拉能源公司

    《财富》500强排名：281

    1978年，刚从工程学院毕业的里德加入塞莫拉能源公司旗下的南加州煤气公司（SoCalGas）。当时，公司还没有哪怕一名女性高管。里德说：“我的目标是成为一名主管。”她的第一份工作任务是为客户的能效计划提供帮助。她在26岁的时候就实现了之前的目标，成为一名主管。之后，她一路扶摇直上，32岁时便成为公司最年轻的高管。期间，她曾负责从人力资源到工程等各个领域。“我曾在多个不同的职能领域工作，让我能够明白公司内部的各种联系，”她说道。“我曾与公司里的许多人共事，对于公司的人才以及如何利用这些人才，我也有很好的判断。”如果说长期在一家公司工作最大的挑战是什么，那就是“挖掘新的创意。”

Debra Reed

    Company: Sempra Energy

    Fortune 500 rank: 281

    When Reed joined Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), a subsidiary of Sempra, fresh out of engineering school in 1978, there were no female officers at the company. "My goal was to become a director," says Reed, whose first assignment was helping customers with energy efficiency programs. She was a director by 26, and she kept climbing up the company ranks, becoming the company's youngest ever officer at 32. Over the years, she managed areas from human resources to engineering. "I've worked in so many different functional areas that I can see the linkages across the company," she says. "And I've worked with so many people in our company that I have a good appreciation for the talent we have and the best ways to leverage it." The biggest challenge to being a lifer? "Mining new ideas."