SUSAN ARNOLD, president, global personal beauty care and feminine care.
• Age: 48.
• Joined P&G: 1980, as a brand assistant on Dawn/Ivory Snow.
• Family: Married, two children.
• Notable: Her first boss was A.G. Lafley.
• Comment: "This is a meritocracy. I don't have horror stories about a glass ceiling. That isn't truth to me."

GINA DROSOS, vice president, global skin care.
• Age: 39.
• Joined P&G: 1987, as a brand assistant on Spic & Span.
• Family: Married, two children.
• Notable: She fulfilled a goal by being appointed a P&G vice president two weeks before Christmas.
• Comment: "I used every prototype (of Olay) along the way. ... I have a different lens through which to interpret consumer data."

MELANIE HEALEY, vice president, North American feminine care.
• Age: 41.
• Joined P&G: 1990, as brand manager of Phebo Soap in Brazil.
• Family: Married, two children.
• Notable: The Brazilian native led development of the Tampax Pearl tampon in 2002.
• Comment: "This is a category that women intuitively understand, and a man will obviously need more training."

DEB HENRETTA, president, global baby care.
• Age: 41.
• Joined P&G: 1985, as a brand assistant with Bold.
• Family: Married, three children.
• Notable: The first woman - and mother - to run P&G's diaper business. Chaired the company's Advancement of Women task force in the eraly 1990s.
• Comment: "I feel a real connection to the business. I love being a mom, and I can kind of marry my passion for the business and my passion for kids."

DIANE HIRAKAWA, senior vice-president of research and development, Iams.
• Age: 42.
• Joined P&G: 1999, when P&G bought Iams.
• Family: Married, three children.
• Notable: When she joined Iams in 1985, the R&D department was only four people. Now it's 170.
• Comment: "I mean, we're a billion-dollar company. Not many women in the world can say they're part of running a billion-dollar company."

COLLEEN JAY, vice president, North American home care.
• Age: 40.
• Joined P&G: 1985, as a brand assistant in food and household cleaning products in Canada.
• Family: Married, three children.
• Notable: She has worked in every P&G business unit except baby care.
• Comment: "My ambition really is to continue to learn and grow from a business standpoint. Do I have an aspiration where the only job for me is CEO? No."

PAM PAGE, vice president, product supply, global fabric and home care engineering.
• Age: 49.
• Joined P&G: 1977, as a product technical engineer in packaged soaps and detergents.
• Family: Single parent, one daughter.
• Notable: She is P&G's only female African-American vice president, and once managed a plant at Ivorydale. She now works in Brussels.
• Comment: "It (vice president) was a pretty big deal. I worked pretty hard for that."

GRETCHEN PRICE, vice president, finance and accounting, global market development organizations.
• Age: 48.
• Joined P&G: 1976, in a comptroller's development training program.
• Family: Married, no children.
• Notable: She transferred from a job as corporate treasurer last year to broaden her global experience.
• Comment: "Even after I've been around 18 to 20 years, still the company has shown a commitment to want to develop me."

Other top female executives at P&G

• Charlotte Otto, global external relations officer. She's liaison to civic causes in Cincinnati and, with 26 years at P&G, the longest-tenured female officer.

• Sharon Abrams, corporate secretary. She's also a corporate officer.

• Claudia Kotchka, vice president, design innovation and strategy. She reports to chairman and CEO A.G. Lafley.

• Jane Fawcett-Hoover, vice president of national government relations.

• Daniela Riccardi, vice president, Eastern Europe.

• Graciela Eleta, vice president, multicultural market development organization.