Alum moves up on Fortune’s ‘most powerful women’ list

Cathy Engelbert ’86 made history in 2015 when she became the first woman to lead a major U.S. professional services firm.

Now Engelbert has jumped to No. 15—up from No. 21 in 2015—on Fortune’s annual list of the most powerful women.

Since heading Deloitte, Engelbert has helped the company grow to $17.5 bilion in revenues and more than 78,000 employees, Fortune notes.  It also identified her as a champion for paid leave, with Deloitte instituting a major policy change that allows both male and female employees to take 16 weeks of time off to care for family members.

Engelbert joined Deloitte 30 years ago, after graduating from Lehigh with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and rose through the ranks there.

In an interview with the Alumni Bulletin shortly after her selection as CEO, she talked about her career, work-life balance and those Lehigh years.

“From the day I started at Deloitte, people would say, Oh she has presence beyond her years. Well that’s what I got at Lehigh, the executive presence,” Engelbert said at the time. “And that’s an important part of leadership because you need to gain followership from people who report to you. If they see you’re able to handle stress—people call it grace under fire or be your best in your darkest moment—in a way that is measured, you’re the calming influence. Those are all things I learned from my schooling at Lehigh.”

The full interview can be read here.