Undoubtedly, the position of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) demands business intelligence, hard work, commitment and synergy.
However, it takes more than strategic planning, critical reasoning and a solid capital base to make it among the world’s best 100 CEOs. This highlights the importance of value creation, consumer-centered policy, stakeholder satisfaction and employee welfare, including how top management applies change and innovation strategies to increase organizational competitiveness.
CEOWorld Magazine released its 100 Best Chief Executives for the year 2019, and unsurprisingly, Douglas McMillion (Walmart CEO) grabbed the No. 1 position. The global ranking recognized top-performing CEOs across all industries.
McMillion was followed by Ben van Beurden (CEO of Royal Dutch Shell) whereas Lakshmi Mittal, who holds position as CEO and Chairman of ArcelorMittal was named third.
Amin H. Nasser (Saudi Aramco CEO) occupied the No. 4 spot followed by Bob Dudley (BP CEO), Darren Woods (ExxonMobil CEO) and Herbert Diess (Volkswagen CEO) in the fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively.
CEOWorld Magazine, of course, weighed performances from Tim Cook (Apple CEO) and Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) and found them worthy of spots among the top 10. Both influential CEOs occupied the ninth and tenth positions in that order, followed by Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) on the No. 11 spot.
Here’s a list of the 2019 Best CEOs:
| Rank | Name | Title | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C. Douglas McMillon | CEO | US | Walmart |
| 2 | Ben van Beurden | CEO | Netherlands | Royal Dutch Shell |
| 3 | Lakshmi Niwas Mittal | Chairman and CEO | Luxembourg | ArcelorMittal |
| 4 | Amin H. Nasser | CEO and President | Saudi Arabia | Saudi Aramco |
| 5 | Bob Dudley | Group chief executive | UK | BP |
| 6 | Darren Woods | CEO and Chairman | US | Exxon Mobil |
| 7 | Herbert Diess | CEO and Chairman of the Board | Germany | Volkswagen AG |
| 8 | Akio Toyoda | President Member of the Board of Directors | Japan | Toyota Motor |
| 9 | Timothy D. Cook | CEO | US | Apple |
| 10 | Warren E. Buffett | CEO | US | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 11 | Jeffrey P. Bezos | CEO | US | Amazon |
| 12 | David S. Wichmann | CEO | US | UnitedHealth Group |
| 13 | Kim Ki Nam | CEO and Vice Chairman | South Korea | Samsung Electronics |
| 14 | Ivan Glasenberg | CEO | Switzerland | Glencore |
| 15 | Brian S. Tyler | CEO | US | McKesson |
| 16 | Ola Kallenius | CEO | Germany | Daimler |
| 17 | Larry J. Merlo | CEO | US | CVS Health |
| 18 | Patrick Pouyanne | CEO and Chairman | France | Total |
| 19 | Jim Hackett | President and CEO | US | Ford |
| 20 | Michael K. (Mike) Wirth | Chairman of the Board and CEO | US | Chevron |
| 21 | Wang Yilin | Chairman | China | China National Petroleum CNPC |
| 22 | Steven H. Collis | Chairman, President and CEO | US | AmerisourceBergen |
| 23 | Randall L. Stephenson | Chairman and CEO | US | AT&T |
| 24 | John Elkann | Chairman and Chief Executive | Netherlands | EXOR Group |
| 25 | Dai Houliang | Chairman of the Board | China | Sinopec Group |
| 26 | Terry Gou | Chairman and General manager | Taiwan | Hon Hai Precision Industry |
| 27 | Jeremy Weir | Executive Chairman and CEO | Singapore | Trafigura Group |
| 28 | Stefano Pessina | Executive Vice Chairman and CEO | US | Walgreens |
| 29 | Michael C. Kaufmann | CEO | US | Cardinal Health |
| 30 | Larry Page | CEO | US | Alphabet |
| 31 | W. Craig Jelinek | CEO | US | Costco Wholesale |
| 32 | Takahiro Hachigo | CEO | Japan | Honda Motor |
| 33 | Takehiko Kakiuchi | President and Chief Executive | Japan | Mitsubishi |
| 34 | Mary T. Barra | Chairwoman and CEO | US | General Motors |
| 35 | James Dimon | Chairman and CEO | US | JPMorgan Chase |
| 36 | Alexey B. Miller | CEO | Russia | Gazprom |
| 37 | Verizon Communications | CEO | US | Verizon Communications |
| 38 | Oliver Bate | CEO | Germany | Allianz |
| 39 | Thomas Buberl | CEO | France | AXA |
| 40 | Rodney McMullen | CEO | US | Kroger |
| 41 | H. Lawrence Culp Jr. | CEO | US | General Electric |
| 42 | Hugh R. Frater | CEO | US | Fannie Mae |
| 43 | Vagit Y. Alekperov | President | Russia | Lukoil |
| 44 | Satya Nadella | CEO | US | Microsoft |
| 45 | Brian T. Moynihan | Chairman and CEO | US | Bank of America Corp |
| 46 | Joseph W. Gorder | CEO | US | Valero Energy |
| 47 | Li Yue | CEO | China | China Mobile |
| 48 | Greg Garland | Chairman and CEO | US | Phillips 66 |
| 49 | Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani | Chairman and managing director | India | Reliance Industries |
| 50 | Harald Kruger | Chairman and CEO | Germany | BMW Group |
| 51 | Joe Kaeser | CEO | Germany | Siemens |
| 52 | C. Allen Parker | Interim CEO | US | Wells Fargo |
| 53 | Dennis Muilenburg | President, chairman and CEO | US | Boeing |
| 54 | Zheng Zhijie | President | China | China Development Bank |
| 55 | Hiroto Saikawa | President and CEO | Japan | Nissan Motor |
| 56 | Masahiro Okafuji | Chairman and CEO | Japan | Itochu |
| 57 | Jun Sawada | President and CEO | Japan | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone |
| 58 | Craig Menear | CEO | US | Home Depot |
| 59 | Ren Zhengfei | CEO | China | Huawei |
| 60 | Wang Xiangming | General Manager | China | China Resources |
| 61 | Gail Koziara Boudreaux | CEO | US | Anthem |
| 62 | Andreas Schierenbeck | CEO | Germany | Uniper |
| 63 | Volkmar Denner | CEO | Germany | Bosch Group |
| 64 | Ulf Mark Schneider | CEO | Switzerland | Nestle |
| 65 | Brian L. Roberts | Chairman and CEO | US | Comcast |
| 66 | Gary R. Heminger | Chairman and CEO | US | Marathon Petroleum |
| 67 | Michael L. Corbat | CEO | US | Citigroup |
| 68 | Timotheus Hottges | Chief Executive | Germany | Deutsche Telekom |
| 69 | Sanjiv Singh | Chief Executive | India | Indian Oil |
| 70 | Francesco Starace | CEO | Italy | Enel |
| 71 | Ning Gaoning (Frank Ning) | Chairman | China | Sinochem Group |
| 72 | Igor Sechin | Executive Chairma | Russia | Rosneft |
| 73 | Jose Antonio Alvarez | Chairman and CEO | Spain | Santander |
| 74 | Michael S. Dell | CEO | US | Dell Technologies |
| 75 | Claudio Descalzi | CEO | Italy | ENI |
| 76 | Alexandre Bompard | CEO | France | Carrefour |
| 77 | Shashi Shanker | Chairman and Managing Director | India | Oil & Natural Gas |
| 78 | Marc C. Doyle | CEO | US | DuPont |
| 79 | Masayoshi Son | Chief Executive | Japan | SoftBank Group |
| 80 | Carlos Tavares | Chief Executive and Chairman | France | Groupe PSA |
| 81 | Philippe Donnet | CEO | Italy | Assicurazioni Generali |
| 82 | Philippe Brassac | Chief Executive | France | Crédit Agricole |
| 83 | Rajnish Kumar | Chairman | India | State Bank of India |
| 84 | Timotheus Hottges | CEO | Germany | Deutsche Telekom |
| 85 | Jean-Bernard Levy | Chief Executive and Chairman | France | Electricite de France EDF |
| 86 | Alex Gorsky | Chairman and CEO | US | Johnson & Johnson |
| 87 | Jean-Laurent Bonnafe | CEO | France | BNP Paribas |
| 88 | Kenichiro Yoshida | CEO | Japan | Sony |
| 89 | Guenter Butschek | CEO and Managing Director | India | Tata Motors |
| 90 | Martin Brudermuller | CEO | Germany | BASF |
| 91 | Ginni Rometty | Chair, president, and CEO | US | IBM |
| 92 | Eldar Saetre | CEO | Norway | Equinor |
| 93 | Guillaume Faury | CEO | France | Airbus |
| 94 | D Rajkumar | Chairman and Managing Director | India | Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) |
| 95 | Brian C. Cornell | Chairman and Chief Executive | US | Target |
| 96 | Frank Appel | CEO | Germany | Deutsche Post DHL Group |
| 97 | Hiroshi Shimizu | President | Japan | Nippon Life Insurance |
| 98 | David John Lewis | CEO | UK | Tesco |
| 99 | Rajesh Mehta | Excecutive Chairman | India | Rajesh Exports |
| 100 | John Michael Flint | Group Chief Executive | UK | HSBC Holdings |
| 101 | Elon Musk | CEO | US | Tesla |
| 102 | Brendan Kennedy | CEO | US | Tilray |
| 103 | Bob Iger | CEO | US | Walt Disney |
| 104 | Nikesh Arora | CEO | US | Palo Alto Networks |
| 105 | David Zaslav | CEO and President | US | Discovery Inc. |
| 106 | James Heppelmann | CEO and President | US | PTC Inc |
| 107 | Stephen Schwarzman | CEO and Chairman | US | Blackstone Group LP |
| 108 | Stephen Angel | CEO | US | Linde PLC |
| 109 | Mark Hurd and Safra Catz | co-CEO | US | Oracle Corp |
| 110 | Laura Alber | CEO | US | Williams-Sonoma |
List showing 1 to 110 of 110 entries
Methodology: CEOWORLD magazine’s global ranking of the best chief executives for 2019 measured more than 1,200 CEOs across 96 countries. Taking a long view of business performance, the methodology is primarily based on the financial returns for the CEO’s entire tenure, which makes up 60 percent of the final ranking, as opposed to stock price and the current quarter’s numbers.
To calculate the final position, the additional 40 percent of a CEO’s ranking factors in a company’s track record on environmental, governance, and social issues, as well as market shares, change of market capitalization, and brand’s newsworthiness and impact.
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