Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo American, attracts mixed reviews. To some she's the woman pioneering South Africa's Anglo into modernity; to others she's a virago who won't brook a crossing. Last year - during Xstrata's unsolicited "merger of equals" - it was a case of act or be acted upon for Caroll, who fired 2 700 managers (after earlier scrapping 19 000 jobs) in an effort to prove Anglo could thrive independently. Carroll must now show US$1bn in cost savings this year and double that in 2011. The group also hopes to net $7bn selling non-core businesses Scaw Metals, Brazilian chemical interests and Tarmac. That may lead to a unified Anglo that may deter renewed attentions from Xstrata, or other predators. This year could be Carroll's personal Waterloo. Closer to SA, Carroll enjoyed a rapport with former mines minister Buyelwa Sonjica, which helped ease Anglo's political relationships. Whether Carroll will have the same rapport with Susan Shabangu, the incumbent mines minister, remains to be seen. Carroll didn't only cut jobs last year but also appointed Godfrey Gomwe into one, making him the group's SA head. But will he be more than windowdressing?

LIFE OF CYNTHIA
When appointed CEO of Anglo American in 2006, Carroll became only the third female CEO of a FTSE 100 company. The former head of Alcan's Primary Metal Group, Caroll holds a degree in geology from Skidmore University and the University of Kansas. She joined Alcan in 1989 after working as a petroleum geologist for Amoco for eight years. She studied at the University of Kansas and holds an MBA from Harvard.