PINK's Top Women Business Owners 2007

We started. looking for PINK's Top 50 Women Business Owners thinking that companies with annual operating revenue of $25 million would provide a solid floor. It wasn't long before we had to raise that minimum to $120 million. From the beginning, we knew that a handful of well-known names, like Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO and chairman of Carlson Cos., would be clustered at the top. But even then there were surprises - such as the strategic acquisitions that had vaulted Carlson to $6 billion in 2006 revenue.

One popular image of women business owners is that of the gingham-aproned, apple-cheeked mom making a small fortune stirring up her family's jam recipe on her kitchen stove. Don't get us wrong: We love homemade jam, but our goal was to find women making big fortunes. And we did.

Right away it became clear that it doesn't hurt to be born into the right family. Lily Bentas (Cumberland Farms), Nelson and Maggie Hardy Magerko (84 Lumber), Nos. 1 through 3 on PINK's list, each inherited her family's business. But these women haven't rested on their ancestors' laurels. Instead they've aggressively pursued opportunities that their parents never could have imagined.