Every year for the past seven years Harvard Business Review releases its list of the 100 top CEOs around the globe, based on the results of performance over their entire tenure at a particular company within the S&P Global 1200 index.
Its CEO evaluations are based on three primary financial metrics:
- Financial performance of the firm from the first day on the job until April 30, 2016
- Country-adjusted total shareholder return, including reinvested dividends compared to industry-adjusted total shareholder return including reinvested dividends
- Change in the firm's market cap, adjusted for dividends, share issues and share repurchasing, based on inflation-adjusted U.S. dollars
And this year, for the first time, HBR has added another metric: corporate ESG performance, using data from Sustainalytics and CSRHub to rank a company's behavior on environmental, social, and governance issues.
Each of the two ESG rankings has a 10% weighting while the financial rankings have a cumulative 80% weighting. Lower rankings in each set of numbers indicate stronger performance in those categories, according to an HBR spokeswoman.
(Related: 10 Best Places for Boomers to Work: Fortune)
Among the top 20 CEOs in the latest list there are a few from banking and financial services that many advisors will be familiar with. Other CEOs of financial firms in the top 100 list for 2016 include BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink (#39), Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank (#41) and Mastercard CEO Ajaypal Banga (#64).
On average the top 100 CEOs became CEO of their companies at age 44 and have led their companies for 17 years and overseen an average 20.2% annual return. Sixteen lead companies based outside their countries of birth; 24 have MBAs and 24 have engineering degrees.
"It's heartening to see a group of business leaders compiling track records that allow them to stick around and implement long-term strategies," writes HBR senior editor Daniel McGinn, noting the pressures CEOs face from slow global growth, political uncertainty and in the U.S. in particular shareholder activists.
Here are the top 20 CEOs, out of 100, in Harvard Business Review, along with some key metrics:
20. Michael Mussallem, Edwards Lifesciences
Industry: Health Care
Country: U.S.
Start Year: 2000
Financial Ranking: 22
ESG Rankings: 302 (Sustainalytics), 590 (CSRHUB)
19. John Thijs, KBC
Industry: Financial Services
Country: Belgium
Start Year: 2012
Financial Ranking: 106
ESG Rankings: 51 (Sustainalytics); 134 (CSRHUB)
18. Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen Asset Management
Industry: Financial Services
Country: U.K.
Start Year: 1983
Financial Ranking: 108
ESG Rankings: 93 (Sustainalytics); 39 (CSRHUB)
17. Richard Cousins, Compass
Industry: Consumer Goods
Country: U.K.
Start Year: 2006
Financial Ranking: 55
ESG Rankings: 343 (Sustainalytics); 200 (CSRHUB)
16. Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com
Industry: Information Technology
Country: U.S.
Start Year: 2001
Financial Ranking: 11
ESG Rankings: 424 (Sustainalytics); 458 (CSRHUB)
15. Martin Bouygues, Bouygues
Industry: Industrials
Country: France
Start Year: 1989
Financial Ranking: 77
ESG Rankings: 178 (Sustainalytics); 160 (CSRHUB)
14. Howard Schultz, Starbucks
Industry: Consumer Goods
Country: U.S.
Start Year: 1987 (left CEO position in 2000; resumed role in 2008)
Financial Ranking: 28
ESG Rankings: 254 (Sustainalytics); 434 (CSRHUB)
13. Florentino Perez Rodriguez, ACS
Industry: Industrials
Country: Spain
Start Year: 1993
Financial Ranking: 27
ESG Rankings: 225 (Sustainalytics); 437 (CSRHUB)
12. Carlos Alves De Brito, Anheuser-Busch InBev
Industry: Consumer Goods
Country: Belgium
Start Year: 2005
Financial Ranking: 36
ESG Rankings: 217 (Sustainalytics); 317 (CSRHUB)
11. Mark Parker, Nike
Industry: Consumer Goods
Country: U.S.
