REVEALED: 2021’s Top CEOS in US, UK, Canada, France & Germany

Glassdoor has revealed the winners of 2021’s Employees’ Choice Awards, which honours the Top CEOs across North America and parts of Europe. 

The exceptional leaders featured on Glassdoor’s lists this year are not only driving their companies forward with innovative strategy and execution, but they are engaging and uplifting their employees during challenging times; “clearly demonstrated by employee reviews”, confirmed the jobs and companies insight platform. 

TOP 100 CEOS IN THE US

This year, Boston Consulting Group’s CEO Rich Lesser claims the top spot in the US Top 100 CEOs in 2021 Award, with a 99% approval rating. More than half (56 CEOs) of this year’s Top 100 CEOs, including Rich Lesser, are on the list for the first time. Other newcomers include lululemon’s Calvin McDonald (No. 19, 96% approval), Slack’s Stewart Butterfield (No. 82, 92% approval) and Royal Caribbean Group’s Richard D. Fain (No. 96, 90% approval). 

Five women are honoured among the Top 100 this year. They include In-N-Out Burger’s Lynsi Snyder (No. 20, 96% approval); Fidelity Investments’ Abby Johnson (No. 44, 94% approval); Progressive Insurance’s Tricia Griffith (No. 65, 93% approval), Citi’s Jane Fraser (No. 91, 90% approval) and Mercer’s Martin Ferland (No. 100, 90% approval).

Apple’s Tim Cook (No. 32, 95% approval) is the only CEO to be honoured all eight years. On the 2021 list of the Top 50 CEOs at Small & Medium Companies, seven of the top 10 CEOs are newcomers to this list. This year, there are 18 CEOs who are recognised by employees in multiple countries. In fact, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella made four lists this year (US Large, UK, Canada and Germany).

CEOS WHO EXCELLED AMID COVID-19

“Over the past year, company leaders around the world faced unprecedented challenges to support employees during the Covid-19 crisis. Now, the employees have spoken and it’s clear that these CEOs excelled and found new ways to support their people when the world of work flipped upside down,” stated Glassdoor’s Chief Executive Officer Christian Sutherland-Wong. “Through a challenging year, it’s inspiring to see Top CEOs who, according to their employees, adapted to change, redefined visions and led with transparency while putting the health and safety of employees first. I extend my sincerest congratulations to this year’s Employees’ Choice Award winners.”

Unlike any other workplace award, the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their CEO’s leadership, along with insights into their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

EMPLOYEE CHOICE AWARD WINNERS

This year, the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the US, Glassdoor has revealed the 100 Top CEOs (honouring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees) and the 50 Top CEOs at small & medium companies (honouring CEOs at employers with fewer than 1,000 employees).

The 10 Top CEOs of US large firms

1. Boston Consulting Group’s Rich Lesser (99% approval) 
2. Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen (99% approval) 
3. MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Peter Pisters (99% approval) 
4. Southwest Airlines’ Gary C. Kelly (98% approval) 
5. Visa Inc.’s Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. (97% approval) 
6. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (97% approval) 
7. H E B’s Charles C. Butt (97% approval) 
8. Delta Air Lines’ Ed Bastian (97% approval) 
9. Red Hat’s Paul Cormier (97% approval) 
10. Booz Allen Hamilton’s Horacio D. Rozanski (97% approval)

The five Top CEOs of US small & medium companies 

1. 6sense’s Jason Zintak (99% approval) 
2. Logical Position’s Michael Weinhouse and John Ganey (99% approval) 
3. Apeel Sciences’ James Rogers (99% approval) 
4. Lower’s Dan Snyder (99% approval) 
5. South Carolina Federal Credit Union’s Scott Woods (99% approval)

The Top 10 CEOs in the UK

1. BlackRock’s Laurence D. Fink (99% approval)
2. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (99% approval)
3. Softcat’s Graeme Watt (99% approval)
4. The Lego Group’s Niels B. Christiansen (98% approval)
5. The British Heart Foundation’s Dr. Charmaine Griffiths (98% approval)
6. UBS’ Ralph Hamers (98% approval)
7. Roche’s Severin Schwan (98% approval)
8. Unilever’s Alan Jope (98% approval)
9. Airbus’ Guillaume Faury (98% approval)
10. PepsiCo’s Ramon Laguarta (98% approval)

The Top 10 CEOS in France

1. SAP’s Christian Klein (99% approval)
2. Shneider Electric’s Jean-Pascal Tricoire (98% approval)
3. Safran’s Olivier Andriès (98% approval)
4. CEA’s François Jacq (98% approval)
5. Salesforce’s Marc Benioff (98% approval)
6. Talan’s Mehdi Houas (98% approval)
7. Air Liquide’s Benoît Potier (98% approval)
8. Orange’s Stéphane Richard (98% approval)
9. Sephora’s Chris de Lapuente (97% approval)
10. Allianz’s Oliver Bäte (97% approval)

The Top 10 CEOS in Canada

1. Mackenzie Investments’ Barry McInerney (99% approval)
2. Laurentian Bank’s Rania Llewellyn (99% approval)
3. Marshalls’ Ernie Herrman (98% approval)
4. Sickkids’ Ronald Cohn (98% approval)
5. H&R Block’s Jeffrey J. Jones II (98% approval)
6. Ciena’s Gary B. Smith (98% approval)
7. iA Groupe financier’s Denis Ricard (97% approval)
8. Schneider Electric’s Jean-Pascal Tricoire (97% approval)
9. General Motors’ Mary Barra (97% approval)
10. Apple’s Tim Cook (97% approval)

The Top 10 CEOs in Germany

1. Volkswagen’s Herbert Diess (99% approval)
2. Continental’s Nikolai Setzer (99% approval)
3. IKEA’s Jesper Brodin (99% approval)
4. Porshe’s Oliver Blume (98% approval)
5. Bertrandt’s Dietmar Bichler (98% approval)
6. Roche’s Severin Schwan (98% approval)
7. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (98% approval)
8. Capgemini’s Aiman Ezzat (97% approval)
9. Siemens Healthineers’ Bernd Montag (97% approval)
10. PwC’s Robert E. Moritz (96% approval)

Click here to see all the lists of the winning CEOs. Zoom, HubSpot and Google bosses were crowned as 2020’s Best CEOs of large companies by the online workplace monitoring platform Comparably. Click here to read more.