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The 25 best CEOs of large companies, ranked by female employees

The 25 best CEOs of large companies, ranked by female employees

Madison Hoff

Shantanu Narayen, chairman, president, and CEO of Adobe.Jeff Bottari/Invision for Adobe/AP Images

Career site Comparably released its latest ranking of the best CEOs according to female employees.
The list is based on female ratings over a 12-month period, starting on June 23, 2020.
The following are the top 25 CEOs at companies with more than 500 employees.

25. Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe

Anne Wojcicki. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Sunnyvale, California

Industry: Biotechnology

Employee quote about the CEO: "I love that she values work-life balance and treats us as human beings rather than cogs in a machine. I also love her readiness to innovate--even in things like rethinking the workplace of the future."

24. Kenneth Lin, Credit Karma

Kenneth Lin. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Oakland, California

Industry: FinTech

Employee quote about the CEO: "Transparent, empathetic, experienced, open, and trustworthy."

23. Amy Zupon, Vertafore

Amy Zupon. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Denver, Colorado

Industry: Computer software

Employee quote about the CEO: "Empathetic and allows the team to be flexible. Gives opportunity for me to present my ideas and values it as well."

22. Andrew Wang, Beacon Hill Staffing Group

Andrew Wang. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Industry: Staffing agency

Employee quote about the CEO: "Recently the leadership has emphasized diversity and inclusion, which is something I like a lot."

21. Keith G. Myers, LHC Group

Keith G. Myers. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Lafayette, Louisiana

Industry: Healthcare

Employee quote about the CEO: "Strives for excellence while allowing for humanity to be present."

20. Chris Caldwell, Concentrix

Chris Caldwell. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Fremont, California

Industry: Customer service outsourcing

Employee quote about the CEO: "Transparency, empathy, a moral compass, and fun."

19. Tim Cook, Apple

Tim Cook. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Cupertino, California

Industry: Consumer electronics

Employee quote about the CEO: "I appreciate the commitment to diversity, inclusion, fairness and the environment."

18. Pierre Naudé, nCino

Pierre Naudé. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Wilmington, North Carolina

Industry: Financial services

Employee quote about the CEO: "Driven to accomplish company goals. But believes that those goals will be achieved through employee empowerment."

17. Arvind Krishna, IBM

Arvind Krishna. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Armonk, New York

Industry: Computer enterprise software

Employee quote about the CEO: "Open, direct, honest, and caring."

16. Eric Yuan, Zoom Video Communications

Eric Yuan. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: San Jose, California

Industry: Video conferencing software

Employee quote about the CEO: "Eric's focus on happiness — for our customers and our employees — is infectious and permeates the organization from the top down."

15. Bert Bean, Insight Global

Bert Bean. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Industry: Staffing and recruiting

Employee quote about the CEO: "Since Bert Bean took the role of CEO, he has embraced diversity, change and evolution."

14. Robert G. Painter, Trimble

Robert Painter. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Sunnyvale, California

Industry: Web hosting and navigation software

Employee quote about the CEO: "We are lucky to have Rob. It is the first time that I feel included in the strategy, and that the voice of each of us counts."

13. Annette Brüls, Medela

Annette Brüls. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: McHenry, Illinois

Industry: Medical devices

Employee quote about the CEO: "Inclusive and caring, visionary and daring."

12. Craig Boundy, Experian

Craig Boundy. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Costa Mesa, California

Industry: Financial services

Employee quote about the CEO: "Very supportive and encouraging of a positive work/life balance with a 'health and family always comes first' mentality."

11. Jim Loree, Stanley Black & Decker

Jim Loree. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: New Britain, Connecticut

Industry: Consumer goods

Employee quote about the CEO: "Jim Loree does a great job conveying and demonstrating the importance of recognizing the role each of us plays as individuals and the value of a diverse, inclusive environment."

10. Kumsal Bayazit, Elsevier

Kumsal Bayazit. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: New York, New York

Industry: Publishing

Employee quote about the CEO: "Our CEO is an inspirational woman who, since her arrival, has created a strong awareness of the organization's values and care for our customers."

9. Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Satya Nadella. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Redmond, Washington

Industry: Computer software and electronics

Employee quote about the CEO: "Satya Nadella is driving culture change in very impressive way. moving from 'know it all' to 'learn it all.'"

8. Dan Rosensweig, Chegg

Dan Rosensweig. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Santa Clara, California

Industry: Online education and training services

Employee quote about the CEO: "Empathy towards employees and recognition of the importance of contribution from every wing of the organization."

7. John Foley, Peloton

John Foley. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: New York, New York

Industry: Health and fitness

Employee quote about the CEO: "I believe that John Foley is one of the kindest, most earnest people I know."

6. Vladimir Shmunis, RingCentral

Vladimir Shmunis. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Belmont, California

Industry: SaaS/enterprise platform

Employee quote about the CEO: "Much openess and understanding to the needs of the employees during these difficult times."

5. Sarah Friar, Nextdoor

Sarah Friar. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: San Francisco, California

Industry: Private social networking platform

Employee quote about the CEO: "Coming from male led companies for the last 25 years of my career, working for a female led company is a very welcome change. Authenticity, diversity, inclusion, transparency."

4. Brian Halligan, HubSpot

Brian Halligan. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Industry: CRM Software

Employee quote about the CEO: "I appreciate his transparency, listening to staff of all levels and the empathy. Forward thinking with inclusion."

3. Leslie Stretch, Medallia

Leslie Stretch. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: San Francisco, California

Industry: SaaS Platform

Employee quote about the CEO: "Our leadership, starting with our CEO Leslie Stretch, is unmatched in their engagement and empathy toward our workforce."

2. Jeffrey Dailey, Farmers Insurance

Jeffrey Dailey. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: Woodland Hills, California

Industry: Insurance

Employee quote about the CEO: "Focused on diversity and inclusion and caring about employees as whole people. I am a single mom. I have chronic health issues. All of this is considered and accommodated."

1. Shantanu Narayen, Adobe

Shantanu Narayen. Courtesy of Comparably

Location: San Jose, California

Industry: Enterprise software

Employee quote about the CEO: "Shantanu is genuine and authentic. He's a great communicator and delivers a vision for our company that I believe in."

Here is the full list for large companies:

Courtesy of Comparably

Method and data source

Comparably creates several rankings a year using employee ratings collected on the website. In addition to producing a list of the best companies for women, the career site also publishes an annual list of the best CEOs for women.

To compile the rankings, the career site only used anonymous female ratings from June 23, 2020 to June 23, 2021. The large company list only includes companies with over 500 employees.

There are still not that many women in executive positions, and only five female CEOs made the top 25 of the large company list.

Nextdoor's CEO Sarah Friar ranked the highest among female CEOs that made the top 25. Elsevier's CEO Kumsal Bayazit was the only other female CEO that made the top 10 this year coming in at No. 10. Both of these CEOs have approval ratings of at least a 90 (out of 100) on the career site.

The full list, including the top CEOs of small and midsize companies according to women, can be found on Comparably. Employee quotes and industries noted above are from Comparably and provided to Insider.