Marissa Mayer - Yahoo's new CEO, the fifth in five years.
The 37-year-old artificial intelligence star, who is Yahoo's third CEO in a year, was
most recently responsible for Google's mapping, local and location services.
As she joins the extremely thin ranks of female Silicon Valley CEOs, Mayer has overcome conventional corporate bias in accepting the top job- she is pregnant and is expecting the baby in October.
Mayer disclosed her pregnancy to a Yahoo search committee in June, and said no one expressed any concern over hiring a pregnant CEO, Fortune reported.
"They showed their evolved thinking," she said.
Manish Sabharwal, chairman of Bangalore-based human resource firm TeamLease, said Mayer as Yahoo CEO symbolised a new phase in women empowerment - taking up challenging roles even in demanding personal circumstances such as pregnancy.
"The trend will only grow," he said.
An NYT blog said she always encouraged girls to study computer science and pursue tech jobs.
"She often advises women to go after bigger career opportunities instead of stepping back when they consider starting a family," wrote Claire Cain Miller.
Mayer, who has a master's degree in computer science from Stanford, is expected to focus on product development, which is significant for India.
Yahoo's Bangalore centre is its biggest outside the Silicon Valley.
With inputs from agencies