Just some months into 2025, it grew to become clear that the yr can be not like another in latest reminiscence, due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. European Central Financial institution chief Christine Lagarde characterised the uncertainty as “excessive and rising.” Corporations have acknowledged that what lies forward shall be unattainable to foretell.
Amongst these confronted with the altering world order are a few of the Most Highly effective Girls in enterprise. Now in its twenty eighth yr, the annual rating acknowledges 100 ladies main main international firms. This yr, 21 listees are on the helm of European firms. Whether or not working a few of the world’s largest style homes or vitality firms, they embody Europe’s feminine management energy.
21
The variety of ladies on the helm of European firms on MPW
That additionally means the ever-shifting tariff disaster impacts a few of their companies straight or not directly. As an illustration, British pharma big GSK makes 50% of its income from the U.S.
GSK is “a world firm, and pharma provide chains are complicated … so we now have choices to mitigate what could come,” Emma Walmsley, GSK’s CEO, tells Fortune. “It’s not mistaken to say being a CEO is a lonely job, but it surely’s lots much less lonely if you work alongside extraordinary individuals.”
MPW leaders inform Fortune that the onus of navigating a nebulous world won’t simply fall on the highest tier. It would want collective intelligence and synchrony from totally different specialists and geographies.
“It’s not mistaken to say being a CEO is a lonely job, but it surely’s lots much less lonely if you work alongside extraordinary individuals.”
Emma Walmsley GSK’s CEO
“I don’t declare to know every little thing or have all of the solutions,” notes Belén Garijo, CEO of German big Merck Group. However the firm of 62,000 individuals in life science, well being care, and tech all the time plans for varied situations.
“It’s by no means nearly me. Considered one of my key management rules is to encompass myself with good, succesful individuals,” Garijo says.
Emma Walmsley (ranked #20 on MPW)
CEO
GSK — U.Okay.
Walmsley, considered one of pharma’s strongest bosses, is coming into the ninth yr of her formidable turnaround mission at GSK, driving the corporate ahead in discoveries associated to most cancers and antimicrobial resistance, whereas doubling down on AI.
Walmsley began her profession at L’Oréal. She labored for the French beauty firm for 17 years, holding varied normal administration and advertising roles in Paris, London, and New York. In 2010 she joined GSK as president of Client Healthcare Europe, and took over as CEO in 2017.
A turning level for Walmsley throughout her profession at GSK was the breakthrough of Arexvy, the world’s first RSV vaccine, which generated $1.6 billion in gross sales in its first yr after launching within the third quarter of 2023. The vaccine was a triumph for the pharma firm after it did not develop a COVID jab.
In 2024, GSK doubled gross sales of its most cancers therapies, taking complete firm income to $41.7 billion. GSK is presently exploring technological developments geared toward leveraging AI to hasten drug discovery. Walmsley is an impartial director at Microsoft. Her pay packet rose to $13.3 million as reward for her firm’s top-line development.
Anna Borg (ranked #37 on MPW)
President and CEO
Vattenfall — Sweden
Borg leads one of many largest European vitality firms, with 21,000 staff throughout the continent. Vattenfall is now collaborating with Swedish business to double fossil-free electrical energy manufacturing within the coming many years. Borg’s firm has additionally dedicated to take a position $17 billion over the following 5 years in initiatives like Dutch offshore wind farms. Vattenfall goals to succeed in net-zero throughout its whole emissions chain by 2040.
Belén Garijo (ranked #39 on MPW)
Chair of Govt Board and CEO
Merck KGaA — Germany
A health care provider by coaching, Garijo entered the pharmaceutical enterprise, finally heading up the combination of biotech Genzyme into mum or dad Sanofi-Aventis. In 2011 she joined the well being care arm of Germany’s Merck KGaA, turning the enterprise round and realigning its portfolio to deal with oncology and immunology. This yr, her fifth as president and CEO of an organization with 63,000 staff, noticed Garijo signing a $3.9 billion deal to accumulate SpringWorks Therapeutics.
Margherita Della Valle (ranked #80 on MPW)
Group CEO
Vodafone — U.Okay.
Della Valle took Vodafone’s helm in 2023, making her the primary feminine chief within the historical past of the British telecommunications firm. Della Valle, who has spent three many years at Vodafone (most just lately as its CFO), is tasked with boosting income and reversing its share value stoop. As a part of her turnaround plan, she has bought off Vodafone’s Spanish and Italian arms for €5 billion and €8 billion, respectively. Her subsequent transfer features a $15 billion merger within the U.Okay. with Three this yr, set to kind Britain’s largest cellular community as soon as accomplished—and seems to have paused the nosedive in Vodafone’s shares.
Allison Kirkby (ranked #85 on MPW)
CEO
BT Group — U.Okay.
In early 2024, Kirkby grew to become the primary lady to helm BT Group, the U.Okay. telecoms big, bringing many years of shopper and telecom savvy into one of the scrutinized boardrooms in British enterprise. A former Procter & Gamble govt, Kirkby made her mark turning round Sweden’s Telia and Denmark’s TDC, and she or he’s now steering BT by means of its most aggressive modernization push but.
On the core of her plan: a $20 billion rollout to ship full-fiber broadband to 25 million U.Okay. properties by 2026, and a radical overhaul of BT’s construction, with as much as 55,000 roles set to be reduce by the last decade’s finish. BT has additionally introduced plans to separate its worldwide operations into a brand new stand-alone unit, as Kirkby continues to discover the attainable scale of the telecom group’s non-U.Okay. enterprise. Traders have taken notice—shares climbed after years of stagnation, as Kirkby pivoted away from BT’s international distractions to refocus on home dominance.
Kirkby has emphasised the significance of AI, and is not only making the enterprise quicker; she’s pushing for a extra inclusive telecoms future as Britain grapples with digital inequality and growing old infrastructure. Amid an business looking on variety, Kirkby has doubled down on BT’s DEI commitments.
Sophie Bellon (ranked #88 on MPW)
Chairwoman and CEO
Sodexo — France
Bellon manages a meals and beverage enterprise that caters to 80 million individuals on daily basis—together with the hungry followers at New Orleans’ Superdome throughout the 2025 Tremendous Bowl. The second-era French businesswoman began her profession in finance, working for Crédit Lyonnais in New York as an advisor for mergers and acquisitions. She then labored as an agent for luxurious manufacturers resembling Armani, Chanel, and Ungaro. Bellon took over as chair after which CEO of the 23.8-billion-euro enterprise after the 2022 dying of her father, Sodexo founder Pierre Bellon.
She stays dedicated to his philosophy of “preserving some great benefits of a big firm with out dropping the advantages of a small one.” Bellon has spun off non-core companies like worker advantages platform Pluxee, in 2024, to deal with her ambition of turning Sodexo into the chief in sustainable meals catering, with vegetarian sausages and elements sourced from native hydroponic farms.
Below Bellon’s management, Sodexo can be making vital strides in growing its meals manufacturers, resembling Fashionable Recipe and Kitchen Works, which intention to ship various, fashionable, and high-high quality tailor-made eating experiences that fulfill evolving shopper preferences.
This text seems within the June/July 2025 challenge of Fortune with the headline ‘Highlight: Europe’s Most Highly effective Girls’.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
