For the first time in its 63-year-old history, an openly lesbian CEO is being listed on the Fortune 500.

On August 1, Beth Ford will take over the food and agricultural cooperative Land O’Lakes, Inc. The company has been ranked by Fortune magazine within the Fortune 500 at number 216. Ford's appointment to president and CEO has made it the first time that an openly lesbian CEO has been listed on the list of largest U.S. companies.

Ford joins Apple CEO Tim Cook and Dow Chemical's Jim Fitterling as the only out gay CEOs to make the list.

Ford said she was not sure she was seeking to be a role model as one of the few openly gay Fortune 500 CEOs, but as she told Fortune: "if it gives someone encouragement and belief that they can be their authentic self and live their life and things are possible [then] that's a terrific moment."

Ford and her spouse, Jill Schurtz, have three teenage children and live in Minneapolis.