Special Report

The 50 Highest Rated CEOs

Thomas C. Frohlich, Steven Peters

Published: June 9, 2016 2:32 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 7:00 am

Top executives, CEOs especially, are often measured by the business decisions they make and how their company is performing. Often just as important, however, is the company’s culture, which executives also help shape. A positive culture can help boost employee morale and with it productivity and sales. It can also attract quality employees and keep turnover low — further boosting the company’s performance.

With employee review websites such as Glassdoor, the popularity of a given CEO is readily available. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the top 50 employee rated chief executives at U.S.-based companies from Glassdoor’s recent report, “Employee Choice Awards: Highest Rated CEOs.” Bob Bechek, the chief executive officer of consultancy firm Bain & Company ranks first.

Three other consulting firm CEOs made the list, including Dominic Barton of McKinsey & Co. in third place; KPMG CEO John Veihmeyer in 13th; and Mark Weinberger of EY in 14th place.

Click here to see the 50 highest rated CEOs.

Leaders of tech companies occupied another six positions. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) was ranked fourth; Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) ranked fifth; Marc Benioff of SalesForce.com (NYSE: CRM) ranked sixth; and, Sundar Picha of Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) ranked seventh.

Consulting and technology companies tend to offer some of the nation’s highest salaries, and this may partially explain the tendency of employees to give favorable ratings. Long-term employee satisfaction — not just with a CEO but with the company as a whole — is more closely related to trust in senior leadership than it is with salary, however.

To identify the highest rated CEOs, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Glassdoor’s recent report, “Employee Choice Awards: Highest Rated CEOs.” In order to be considered, companies needed to have at least 100 Glassdoor-approved company reviews, including at least 100 CEO approval ratings and at least 100 senior management ratings from current and former U.S.-based employees between May 2, 2015 and May 1, 2016. We also reviewed annual revenue figures. For the 30 public companies on this list, revenue figures came from financial documents filed with the federal government. For the remaining 20 private companies, revenue figures were from company websites. When unavailable, revenue figures were obtained from Glassdoor, or from Forbes. In the few cases where a company does not disclose revenue, revenue for the holding company was used.

These are the 50 most popular CEOs in America.

Source: https://twitter.com/calvin_sephora

50. Calvin McDonald
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Sephora
> Industry: Retail
> Revenue: $40.65 billion (parent company)

Source: http://www.greystar.com/

49. Bob Faith
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Greystar
> Industry: Real estate
> Revenue: $100 to 500 million

Source: https://twitter.com/medtronicceo

48. Omar S. Ishrak (MDT)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Medtronic
> Industry: Biotech & pharmaceuticals
> Revenue: $20.26 billion

Source: YouTube

47. Laurent Potdevin (LULU)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: lululemon
> Industry: Retail
> Revenue: $2.06 billion

Source: Thinkstock

46. Craig Jelinek (COST)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Costco Wholesale
> Industry: Retail
> Revenue: $116.20 billion

Source: http://sites.nielsen.com/

45. Mitch Barns (NLSN)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Nielsen
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $6.17 billion

Source: www.slalom.com

44. Brad Jackson
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Slalom Consulting
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $573.1 million

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/

43. Colin Dyer (JLL)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: JLL
> Industry: Real estate
> Revenue: $5.97 billion

Source: Wikimedia Commons

42. Carl Bass (ADSK)
> CEO rating: 92%
> Company: Autodesk
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $2.50 billion

Source: http://www2.deloitte.com/

41. Cathy Engelbert
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: Deloitte
> Industry: Accounting & legal
> Revenue: $35.20 billion

Source: YouTube

40. Laurence D. Fink (BLK)
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: BlackRock
> Industry: Finance
> Revenue: $11.40 billion

Source: http://www.stryker.com/

39. Kevin A. Lobo (SYK)
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: Stryker
> Industry: Manufacturing
> Revenue: $9.95 billion

Source: http://www.nbcumv.com/

38. Stephen B. Burke
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: NBCUniversal
> Industry: Media
> Revenue: $28.46 billion

Source: http://www.news.pitt.edu/

37. Thomas E. Richards (CDW)
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: CDW
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $12.99 billion

Source: http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/

36. Jen-Hsun Huang (NVDA)
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: NVIDIA
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $5.00 billion

Source: http://chiefexecutive.net/

35. Joseph A. Tarantino
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: Protiviti
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $624 million

Source: www.mskcc.org/

34. Craig B. Thompson
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: Memorial Sloan Kettering
> Industry: Health care
> Revenue: $35.9 million

Source: Wikimedia Commons

33. Lloyd C. Blankfein (GS)
> CEO rating: 93%
> Company: Goldman Sachs
> Industry: Finance
> Revenue: $33.82 billion

Source: twitter.com/aneelb

32. Aneel Bhusri (WDAY)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Workday
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $1.16 billion

Source: www.enterprisealive.co.uk/

31. Pamela M. (Pam) Nicholson (EPD)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Enterprise Holdings
> Industry: Travel & tourism
> Revenue: $6.67 billion

Source: equifax.com

30. Rick Smith (EFX)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Equifax
> Industry: Finance
> Revenue: $2.66 billion

Source: about.nike.com

29. Mark G. Parker (NKE)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: NIKE
> Industry: Manufacturing
> Revenue: $30.60 billion

Source: http://www.recruit-rgf.com/

28. Lesa J. Francis
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Staffmark
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $100-500.00 million

Source: twitter.com/billrmcdermott

27. Bill McDermott (SAP)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: SAP
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $22.58 billion (parent company)

Source: Kansas University

26. Chet Cadieux III
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: QuikTrip
> Industry: Restaurants, bars & food services
> Revenue: $10.96 billion

Source: Power Home Remodeling Group

25. Corey Schiller & Asher Raphael
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Power Home Remodeling
> Industry: Construction, repair & maintenance
> Revenue: $375 million

Source: twitter.com/ramirahim

24. Rami Rahim (JNPR)
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Juniper Networks
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $4.86 billion

Source: twitter.com/spencerrascoff

23. Spencer Rascoff
> CEO rating: 94%
> Company: Zillow
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $640 million

Source: gene.com

22. Ian T. Clark
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Genentech
> Industry: Biotech & pharmaceuticals
> Revenue: $5.00 billion (parent company)

Source: expediainc.com

21. Dara Khosrowshahi (EXPE)
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Expedia
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $6.67 billion

Source: Wikimedia Commons

20. Shantanu Narayen (ADBE)
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Adobe
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $4.80 billion

Source: gettyimages

19. Charles C. Butt
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: H E B
> Industry: Retail
> Revenue: $22.00 billion

Source: twitter.com/aronain

18. Aron J. Ain
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Kronos Incorporated
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: > $1 billion

Source: In-N-Out Burger

17. Lynsi Snyder
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: In-N-Out Burger
> Industry: Restaurants, bars & food services
> Revenue: $350 million

Source: jnj.com

16. Alex Gorsky (JNJ)
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Johnson & Johnson
> Industry: Biotech & pharmaceuticals
> Revenue: $15.41 billion

Source: mathworks.com

15. Jack Little
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: MathWorks
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $800 million

Source: ey.com

14. Mark Weinberger
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: EY
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $28.70 billion

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/freemanschool/

13. John B. Veihmeyer
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: KPMG
> Industry: Accounting & legal
> Revenue: $24.44 billion

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fanatictrx/

12. John Legere (TMUS)
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: T-Mobile
> Industry: Telecommunications
> Revenue: $32.05 billion

Source: http://news.pg.com/

11. David S. Taylor (PG)
> CEO rating: 95%
> Company: Procter & Gamble
> Industry: Manufacturing
> Revenue: $76.28 billion

Source: redhat.com

10. Jim Whitehurst (RHT)
> CEO rating: 96%
> Company: Red Hat
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $2.05 billion

Source: Nestlé Purina PetCare

9. Joseph R. Sivewright
> CEO rating: 96%
> Company: Nestlé Purina PetCare
> Industry: Manufacturing
> Revenue: $92.57 billion (parent company)

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iphonedigital/

8. Tim Cook (AAPL)
> CEO rating: 96%
> Company: Apple
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $233.72 billion

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pestoverde/

7. Sundar Pichai (GOOGL)
> CEO rating: 96%
> Company: Google
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $74.99 billion

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

6. Marc Benioff (CRM)
> CEO rating: 97%
> Company: Salesforce
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $6.67 billion

Source: Wikimedia Commons

5. Jeff Weiner (LNKD)
> CEO rating: 97%
> Company: LinkedIn
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $2.99 billion

Source: Wikimedia Commons

4. Mark Zuckerberg (FB)
> CEO rating: 97%
> Company: Facebook
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $17.93 billion

Source: http://www.mckinsey.com/

3. Dominic Barton
> CEO rating: 99%
> Company: McKinsey & Company
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $8.30 billion

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimate-hcm-saas/

2. Scott Scherr (ULTI)
> CEO rating: 99%
> Company: Ultimate Software
> Industry: Information technology
> Revenue: $620 million

Source: http://www.bain.com/

1. Bob Bechek
> CEO rating: 99%
> Company: Bain & Company
> Industry: Business services
> Revenue: $2.20 billion