- For private companies and organizations (including non-profits): o at least $25 million in revenue in at least one of the past 3 years OR an enterprise value of at least $100 million.
- For public companies: market capitalization of at least $250 million Exceptions may be made for women whose organizations do not meet these requirements but have exceptional cultural or business influence.
- Founder
- CEO
- President
- Other C-Suite role (CFO, COO, CIO, CTO, CHRO, etc. or equivalent title, reporting to the CEO and/or the Board of Directors)
- Chair or member of the board of directors of an organization that meets the above eligibility requirements
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Who is eligible for the Changemakers: Women Transforming Business List?
A: All people who identify as female, in leadership roles at companies, company divisions, or organizations that meet the following minimum qualifications:
If you are unsure about eligibility, please email changemakers@cnbc.com to confirm whether you should submit your nomination.
Q: What do you mean by “leadership roles”? Are there certain titles that are required for women to make the list?
A: For purposes of the CNBC Changemakers List, a “leadership role” is defined as:
Q: Are women from outside the United States eligible for inclusion?
A: Yes.
Q: How will the responses to questions in the nomination form be used?
A: Responses are for scoring purposes only. No information provided in this nomination form will be published without CNBC following up with the nominee for verification and permission. Please answer all of the questions in this survey as completely and honestly as possible. This will give the nominee her best possible chance of being named to the list.
Q: Why do you need a headshot?
A: If your nominee makes the Changemakers list, we will be commissioning a custom illustration to be used as part of the list presentation across all CNBC platforms (TV, Digital, and the annual Changemakers event).
This headshot will be used as inspiration for the illustration. We are asking for headshots in advance this year in an effort to give the artist as much time as possible to complete fifty illustrations in time for the list reveal.
Q: What if I don’t want to share or can’t share certain types of information?
A: It is possible to skip some questions that ask for more sensitive information, or to answer “prefer not to say.”
Skipping questions will not disqualify the nominee from making the list, but could place her at a disadvantage to nominees who provide more complete responses.
Q: Do character limits include spaces?
A: Yes, for questions with character limits, spaces count as characters. Please make a note of all character limits as you plan and edit your answers. We will not accept responses that exceed character limits, under any circumstances.
Q: Is it possible to make changes to an application after it is submitted?
A: No. We recommend using the above text version to prepare and proofread your responses before you submit the official form. The form only allows for changes to be made while you are completing it. Once it’s been submitted by clicking “DONE”, you will be unable to make additional changes.
If you have a material change or believe you made a significant error or omission, you may email changemakers@cnbc.com with the change up until the December 5th deadline. In the interest of fairness, we will not consider updates once the nomination period has closed. If you anticipate changes, you may mention this in the “additional information” question of the form.
Q: How can I confirm that CNBC has received my completed application?
A: You can expect to receive an email from changemakers@cnbc.com confirming your nomination for the list.
(Note: the nomination form does not generate an automatic confirmation email, so we are completing this part of the process manually. Please allow up to 3 business days to receive this confirmation email from us. Thank you for your patience.)
Q: We have additional material to share as an addendum to our nomination. Where can we send that?
A: Please do not send additional material. In fairness to all nominees, we will not consider supplemental materials. We will only consider the information in the nomination form.
Q: Who can nominate women for the Changemakers List?
A: Anyone with access to the information needed to complete the form accurately. This can be a PR or communications representative of the nominee or her company, a colleague, mentor or protégé of the nominee, or the nominee herself.
Q: Can I nominate more than one woman?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I nominate myself?
A: Yes. As long as you meet all of the above eligibility requirements.
Q: I previously made the CNBC Changemakers List. Should I nominate myself for the 2026 List?
A: We don’t recommend this. From the beginning, we envisioned the Changemakers program to honor a different group of 50 women each year, and to do this to we focus a disproportionate amount of our decision-making process on the “contribution to the business world” that each nominee has made in the past year. So, while it will not be impossible for women to be named to the Changemakers List more than once, we will have an extremely high bar to consider a woman to repeat as a Changemaker, especially in year 3 of the program. That said, if you are a 2025 Changemaker and your measurable contribution to the business world this year is impossible for us to ignore, you can consider nominating yourself again. However, we are not encouraging or making a concerted effort to solicit nominations from the 2025 class. Instead, we have asked them to pay it forward and champion others for consideration for the 2026 List.
Q: I want to make this list. Should I get other people to submit additional nominations on my behalf?
A: No. Please do not do this. One nomination per person is sufficient. No extra consideration will be given to women who are nominated by more than one person.
Q: When will we find out if we made the list?
A: You should hear from us no sooner than December 31, 2025 and no later than January 31, 2026.
Q: What if we don’t hear from you by January 31?
A: Unfortunately, this means you did not make the list. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we will only notify women who make the list (and their representatives). Additionally, we will not provide explanations as to why any single woman did or did not make the list. We hope you’ll try again next year.
Q: Will there be a Changemakers event in 2026?
A: Yes! We expect to announce the exact date and location early next year.