President George Bush appointed her to his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and she is on the boards of Intel, Cisco Systems, NetApp, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology.

Her awards include being named as one of the 50 most powerful women in business by Fortune Magazine in 2005 and one of the world's 30 most respected CEOs by Barron's in 2005.

Bartz, who according to the Journal is 60 years old, will have her hands full as Yahoo CEO. The company has been in a technology and financial slump for several years. Multiple corporate shake-ups and reorganizations have failed to trigger a turnaround.

Yahoo has lagged behind large rivals like Google and small startups, unable to capitalize as much as it should have on many of the hottest Internet opportunities of recent years, like online video, search advertising, social networking and blogging.

There was much hope among industry observers when Yang, a Yahoo cofounder, took over as CEO from Terry Semel in mid-2007, but he failed to deliver on his goals to make Yahoo the preferred starting point for users, the preferred marketing vehicle for online advertisers and the preferred Web application platform for external developers.