Ingram Heads List of Top Female Owners

L.A. Times Archives

April 23, 1996 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

NEW YORK —

This year’s Working Woman magazine list of the top 50 female business owners includes five women who run billion-dollar companies, with Martha Ingram, chairwoman of Ingram Industries, leading the pack.

Ingram, who was public relations director of the Nashville, Tenn.-based conglomerate, took over its helm after the death last June of her husband, industrialist E. Bronson Ingram.

Now the principal shareholder of the privately held distribution business, she was not mentioned on the Working Woman list last year, when four women headed billion-dollar companies.

Ingram Industries, with annual sales of $11 billion, is involved with barge transportation, insurance and the manufacturing of oil and gas industrial equipment. It also operates distribution businesses for computer hardware and software, books and videocassettes.

Last year’s top female business owner, lawyer Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairwoman of TLC Beatrice, moved into the No. 2 slot this year.

She assumed control of the nation’s largest black-owned business after the death of her husband, the company’s founder. The New York-based company had sales of $2.1 billion in 1995.

Others on the list who run billion-dollar businesses are: Joyce Raley Teel, co-chairwoman of Raley’s, Sacramento ($1.84 billion); Lynda Resnick, co-owner of Roll International, Los Angeles ($1.46 billion), and Marian Ilitch, co-founder, secretary and treasurer of Detroit-based Little Caesar Enterprises ($1.16 billion).

Companies were ranked by revenue, but other factors, such as stock ownership and job titles, were taken into account. At private firms, the woman must own 20% of the stock, at public companies, at least 10%, with no individual owning more in either case. The owner must have a title no lower than chief operating officer and must be involved in day-to-day management.

This year’s list also illustrates the growth of women-owned businesses. Each company on the list released Monday had revenue of at least $120 million, whereas in 1993 the cutoff was $60 million.

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Top Businesswomen

The top 10 of 1996 Working Woman magazine’s 1996 top 50 business women:

Owner: 1. Martha Ingram

Title: chairwoman

Company/location: Ingram Industries, Nashville

1995 revenues (billions): $11.0

Owner: 2. Loida N. Lewis

Title: chairwoman

Company/location: TLC Beatrice, New York

1995 revenues (billions): 2.1

Owner: 3. Joyce Raley Teel