Just some months into 2025, it turned clear that the 12 months 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 “high and rising.” Firms have acknowledged that what lies forward shall be inconceivable to foretell.
Amongst these confronted with the altering world order are among the Most Highly effective Girls in enterprise. Now in its twenty eighth 12 months, the annual rating acknowledges 100 girls main main world corporations. This 12 months, 21 listees are on the helm of European corporations. Whether or not working among the world’s largest trend homes or vitality corporations, they embody Europe’s feminine management energy.
21
The variety of girls on the helm of European corporations on MPW
That additionally means the ever-shifting tariff disaster impacts a few of their companies straight or not directly. As an example, British pharma big GSK makes 50% of its income from the U.S.
GSK is “a global company, and pharma supply chains are complex … so we have options to mitigate what may come,” Emma Walmsley, GSK’s CEO, tells Fortune. “It’s not wrong to say being a CEO is a lonely job, but it’s a lot less lonely when you work alongside extraordinary people.”
MPW leaders inform Fortune that the onus of navigating a nebulous world won’t simply fall on the highest tier. It’ll want collective intelligence and synchrony from totally different specialists and geographies.
“It’s not wrong to say being a CEO is a lonely job, but it’s a lot less lonely when you work alongside extraordinary people.”
Emma Walmsley GSK’s CEO
“I don’t claim to know everything or have all the answers,” notes Belén Garijo, CEO of German big Merck Group. However the firm of 62,000 individuals in life science, well being care, and tech at all times plans for numerous eventualities.
“It’s never just about me. One of my key leadership principles is to surround myself with smart, capable people,” Garijo says.
Emma Walmsley (ranked #20 on MPW)
CEO
GSK — U.Ok.
Walmsley, one in every of pharma’s strongest bosses, is coming into the ninth 12 months 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 numerous common administration and advertising and marketing roles in Paris, London, and New York. In 2010 she joined GSK as president of Shopper 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 12 months 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 whole firm income to $41.7 billion. GSK is at present exploring technological developments aimed toward leveraging AI to hasten drug discovery. Walmsley is an unbiased 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 corporations, with 21,000 staff throughout the continent. Vattenfall is now collaborating with Swedish trade 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 subsequent 5 years in tasks like Dutch offshore wind farms. Vattenfall goals to succeed in net-zero throughout its complete emissions chain by 2040.
Belén Garijo (ranked #39 on MPW)
Chair of Govt Board and CEO
Merck KGaA — Germany
A physician by coaching, Garijo entered the pharmaceutical enterprise, finally heading up the mixing 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 give attention to oncology and immunology. This 12 months, 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.Ok.
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 not too long ago as its CFO), is tasked with boosting income and reversing its share value stoop. As a part of her turnaround plan, she has offered 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.Ok. with Three this 12 months, set to type 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.Ok.
In early 2024, Kirkby turned the primary lady to helm BT Group, the U.Ok. telecoms big, bringing many years of shopper and telecom savvy into probably the most scrutinized boardrooms in British enterprise. A former Procter & Gamble government, Kirkby made her mark turning round Sweden’s Telia and Denmark’s TDC, and he or she’s now steering BT via 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.Ok. 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 doable scale of the telecom group’s non-U.Ok. enterprise. Buyers have taken be aware—shares climbed after years of stagnation, as Kirkby pivoted away from BT’s world 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 getting older infrastructure. Amid an trade counting on range, 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 every single day—together with the hungry followers at New Orleans’ Superdome in the course of 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 reminiscent of Armani, Chanel, and Ungaro. Bellon took over as chair after which CEO of the 23.8-billion-euro enterprise after the 2022 loss of life of her father, Sodexo founder Pierre Bellon.
She stays dedicated to his philosophy of “preserving the advantages of a large company without losing the benefits of a small one.” Bellon has spun off non-core companies like worker advantages platform Pluxee, in 2024, to give attention to her ambition of turning Sodexo into the chief in sustainable meals catering, with vegetarian sausages and elements sourced from native hydroponic farms.
Beneath Bellon’s management, Sodexo can also be making vital strides in creating its meals manufacturers, reminiscent of Fashionable Recipe and Kitchen Works, which purpose to ship numerous, trendy, and high-high quality tailor-made eating experiences that fulfill evolving shopper preferences.
This text seems within the June/July 2025 situation of Fortune with the headline ‘Spotlight: Europe’s Most Powerful Women’.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
