Susanne Klatten

Susanne Klatten owns 19.1% of automaker BMW; her brother, Stefan Quandt, owns 23.6%. Their late mother, Johanna, was the third wife of legendary industrialist Herbert Quandt, who guided BMW to preeminence in the luxury market. An economist with an M.B.A., Klatten helped transform her grandfather’s Altana AG into a world-class pharmaceutical/specialty chemical corporation. Klatten is the sole owner and deputy chair of Altana, which has more than $2.5 billion in annual sales. She also holds stakes in Entrust, specializing in digital identity and data security, and carbon and graphite producer SGL Group.