Comparably celebrates its 5th Annual Best Places to Work Awards this season with four of its popular end-of-year categories, anchored by Best Company Culture and Best CEOs. Based on sentiment ratings provided by current employees who anonymously rated their companies in 16 core workplace culture metrics on Comparably.com during the previous 12 months (November 26, 2020 through November 26, 2021), two ranked lists emerge: Top 100 CEOs of Large companies (more than 500 employees) and Top 100 CEOs from Small/Mid-Size companies (500 employees or fewer).
The average approval ratings for the top-rated CEOs from Large companies is 89% compared to 68% site-wide. For the top-rated CEOs from SMBs, that number is 91% compared to 75% site-wide. The final data set was compiled from over 15 million ratings across 70,000 CEOs. Complete methodology is outlined below the lists.
Best CEOs of 2021 (Small/Mid-size)
Best CEOs (Large Companies)
1 Shantanu Narayen Adobe San Jose, CA
2 Arvind Krishna IBM Armonk, NY
3 Satya Nadella Microsoft Redmond, WA
4 Eric Yuan Zoom Video Communications San Jose, CA
5 Jim Loree Stanley Black & Decker New Britain, CT
6 Vladimir Shmunis RingCentral Belmont, CA
7 Henry Schuck ZoomInfo Vancouver, WA
8 John Foley Peloton New York, NY
9 Sundar Pichai Google Mountain View, CA
10 Dan Rosensweig Chegg Santa Clara, CA
11 Sarah Friar Nextdoor San Francisco, CA
12 Kumsal Bayazit Elsevier New York, NY
13 Jeffrey Dailey Farmers Insurance Woodland Hills, CA
14 Bert Bean Insight Global Atlanta, GA
15 Tomer Weingarten SentinelOne Mountain View, CA
16 Archie Black SPS Commerce Minneapolis, MN
17 Bryce Maddock TaskUs New Braunfels, TX
18 Mike Salvino DXC Technology Ashburn, VA
19 Leslie Stretch Medallia San Francisco, CA
20 Kenneth Lin Credit Karma Sunnyvale, CA
21 Robert G. Painter Trimble Oakland, CA
22 Dara Khosrowshahi Uber San Francisco, CA
23 Anne Wojcicki 23andMe Sunnyvale, CA
24 Carlos Rodriguez ADP Roseland, NJ
25 Tim Cook Apple Cupertino, CA
26 Judy R. McReynolds ArcBest Fort Smith, AR
27 Brian Cassin Experian Costa Mesa, CA
28 Chris Caldwell Concentrix Fremont, CA
29 Aman Bhutani GoDaddy Tempe, AZ
30 Laurent Uberti Sitel Group Miami, FL
31 Shoaib Makani KeepTruckin San Francisco, CA
32 Mary Powell Sunrun San Francisco, CA
33 Daniel Dines UiPath New York, NY
34 James Farley Ford Motor Company Dearborn, MI
35 Joe Ucuzoglu Deloitte (US) New York, NY
36 Zig Serafin Qualtrics Provo, UT
37 Mike Sievert T-Mobile Bellevue, WA
38 Tim Ryan PwC New York, NY
39 Pierre Naudé nCino Wilmington, NC
40 Bradley Jacobs XPO Logistics Greenwich, CT
41 Andrew Wang Beacon Hill Staffing Group Boston, MA
42 Carl Russo Calix San Jose, CA
43 John Girard CIENCE Denver, CO
44 Amit Yoran Tenable Columbia, MD
45 Ryan Roslansky LinkedIn Sunnyvale, CA
46 Zander Lurie Momentive.ai San Mateo, CA
47 Ian Siegel ZipRecruiter Santa Monica, CA
48 Mike Massaro Flywire Boston, MA
49 Mike Rosenbaum Guidewire Software San Mateo, CA
50 Andrew Bialecki Klaviyo Boston, MA
51 Aaron VanTrojen Geneva Financial Home Loans Chandler, AZ
52 John Box Meltwater San Francisco, CA
53 Kevin Ali Organon Jersey City, NJ
54 Glenn Kelman Redfin Seattle, WA
55 Wes Schroll Fetch Rewards Chicago, IL
56 Annette Brüls Medela McHenry, IL
57 Jason Zintak 6sense San Francisco, CA
58 Amy Zupon Vertafore Denver, CO
59 Thomas Troy CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer Walnut Creek, CA
60 William J. (John) Berger Sunnova Energy Houston, TX
61 Lisa Su AMD Santa Clara, CA
62 Mahe Bayireddi Phenom Ambler, PA
63 Carmine Di Sibio Ernst & Young (EY) New York, NY
64 Steve Majerus Synergy One Lending San Diego, CA
65 Ben Peterson Blue Raven Solar Orem, UT
66 David Katzman SmileDirectClub Nashville, TN
67 Patrick Pacious Choice Hotels Rockville, MD
68 Hayes Barnard GoodLeap Roseville, CA
69 Mitch Snyder Bell Fort Worth, TX
70 Ed Bastian Delta Air Lines Atlanta, GA
71 Ron Alvesteffer Service Express Grand Rapids, MI
72 Sam Malouf Malouf Companies Logan, UT
73 Joseph Russell Jr. Public Storage Glendale, CA
74 Raj Mamodia BRILLIO Edison, NJ
75 Pat Gelsinger Intel Santa Clara, CA
76 Robert Santella IPC Systems Jersey City, NJ
77 Tarun Raisoni Rahi Fremont, CA
78 Hirokazu Hamada Anritsu Morgan Hill, CA
79 Phil Saunders Cornerstone OnDemand Santa Monica, CA
80 Tom Schoenherr Ambry Genetics Aliso Viejo, CA
81 Tony Strange Aveanna Healthcare Atlanta, GA
82 Enrique Lores HP Palo Alto, CA
83 Nikesh Arora Palo Alto Networks Santa Clara, CA
84 Michael Jackowski Duck Creek Technologies Boston, MA
85 Fred Turner Curative San Dimas, CA
86 Tomas Gorny Nextiva Scottsdale, AZ
87 Amr ElSawy Noblis Reston, VA
88 Christian Klein SAP Newtown Square, PA
89 Doug Mack Fanatics Jacksonville, FL
90 Harley Lippman Genesis10 New York, NY
91 Scott Strazik GE Power Schenectady, NY
92 Brian Cramer Smarsh Portland, OR
93 Chuck Goodrich Gaylor Electric Indianapolis, IN
94 Michelle Abbey Radancy New York, NY
95 Martin Bonick Ardent Health Services Nashville, TN
96 Ryan Westwood Simplus Salt Lake City, UT
97 Jason Trevisan CarGurus Cambridge, MA
98 Jennifer Scanlon UL Northbrook, IL
99 Steve Tzikakis Sitecore San Francisco, CA
100 Bill Nictakis Shearer’s Foods Massillon, OH
Best CEOs (Small/Mid-Size Companies)
1 Alessio Alionco Pipefy San Francisco, CA
2 Ross Wainwright Alida Toronto, Canada
3 William J. Tessar Civic Financial Services Redondo Beach, CA
4 Oleg Rogynskyy People.ai San Francisco, CA
5 Larry Dunivan Namely New York, NY
6 David Grace Deem Oakland, CA
7 Melanie Nallicheri EQRx Cambridge, MA
8 Joel Hyatt Globality Palo Alto, CA
9 Joe Longo Velosio Columbus, OH
10 Howard Brown Revenue.io Los Angeles, CA
11 Gene Berdichevsky Sila Nanotechnologies Alameda, CA
12 Sam Bobley Ocrolus New York, NY
13 John Swigart Pie Insurance Washington, DC
14 Chuck Ruggiero Optomi Atlanta, GA
15 Kip Hollister The Hollister Group Boston, MA
16 Steven Bartel Gem.com San Francisco, CA
17 Alex Howland Virbela Bellingham, WA
18 Hunter Madeley Vena Solutions Toronto, Canada
19 Rich Waldron tray.io San Francisco, CA
20 Donald Brown LifeOmic Indianapolis, IN
21 Terrie Curran Phathom Pharmaceuticals Florham Park, NJ
22 Aaron Johnson APS Payroll Shreveport, LA
23 Tony Safoian SADA Systems North Hollywood, CA
24 Nobuyuki Ashida MISUMI Schaumburg, IL
25 Alfonso de La Nuez & Dan Fishback UserZoom San Jose, CA
26 Kevin Miller GR0 Los Angeles, CA
27 Scott Johnson Motivosity Lehi, UT
28 Hubert Palan Productboard San Francisco, CA
29 Shiv Gaglani Osmosis Kaysville, UT
30 Joanna McFarland HopSkipDrive Los Angeles, CA
31 Ryan Malone SmartBug Media Newport Beach, CA
32 David Coppins IntelyCare Quincy, MA
33 Peter Hazlehurst Synctera Palo Alto, CA
34 Jeffrey Glass Hometap Boston, MA
35 Kurt Theobald Classy Llama Springfield, MO
36 Ashvin Kumar Tophatter San Francisco, CA
37 Alex Canter Nextbite Denver, CO
38 Terrence Moorehead Nature’s Sunshine Products Lehi, UT
39 Gleb Polyakov Nylas San Francisco, CA
40 Graham Gardner Kyruus Boston, MA
41 Daniel Chait Greenhouse Software New York, NY
42 DJ Sampath Armorblox Sunnyvale, CA
43 Ellen Kullman Carbon Redwood City, CA
44 Alejandro Gabriel Bethlen The Bouqs Marina Del Rey, CA
45 Bruce Card Paragon Technology Group Scott Air Force Base, IL
46 Matt Warren Steampunk Mclean, VA
47 Harry Youtan Phaidon International New York, NY
48 Dave Thomas ThomasARTS Farmington, UT
49 Ravi Kunduru Ventech Solutions Columbus, OH
50 Brady Brim-DeForest Theorem Woodland Hills, CA
51 Michael Horvath Strava San Francisco, CA
52 Amir Movafaghi Mixpanel San Francisco, CA
53 Gaby Saliby Nexius Frisco, TX
54 David Thorbahn Select Sires Plain City, OH
55 Steve Oriola Act! Scottsdale, AZ
56 Andrew Grauer Course Hero Redwood City, CA
57 Mark Herrington OnSolve Alpharetta, GA
58 Evan Walker Route Lehi, UT
59 Lord (Paul) Drayson Sensyne Health Oxford, U.K.
60 Michael Castagna MannKind Corporation Westlake Village, CA
61 Deidre Paknad Workboard Palo Alto, CA
62 David Muse Elemica Wayne, PA
63 Ken Tarkoff Syapse San Francisco, CA
64 William Facteau Earlens Menlo Park, CA
65 Aaron King Snapdocs San Francisco, CA
66 Chris Lamontagne Spring San Francisco, CA
67 Kyle Nakatsuji Clearcover Chicago, IL
68 Jody Brazil FireMon Overland Park, KS
69 Ted Murphy IZEA Winter Park, FL
70 Brandon Park SuprTEK Ashburn, VA
71 Chris Savage Wistia Cambridge, MA
72 Neha Sampat Contentstack San Francisco, CA
73 Ilana Fischer Whisps New York. NY
74 Khalil Zahar FightCamp Costa Mesa, CA
75 Prashanth Chandrasekar Stack Overflow New York, NY
76 Nabeel Alamgir Lunchbox New York, NY
77 Doug Ludow MainStreet San Jose, CA
78 Mitch Thrower Events.com La Jolla, CA
79 Jason Gross Petal New York, NY
80 Rodger Desai Prove New York, NY
81 Eyal Feldman Stampli Mountain View, CA
82 Amir Elichai Carbyne New York, NY
83 Rick Rudman Curbio Potomac, MD
84 Natalia Panowicz Codility San Francisco, CA
85 Kathy Hensgen Lulu Press Raleigh, NC
86 John Celebi Sensei Biotherapeutics Boston, MA
87 Brian Hartnack Archer Education Overland Park, KS
88 Ted Jeanloz connectRN Waltham, MA
89 Katherine Power Who What Wear Los Angeles, CA
90 Alex Goode GoSite San Diego, CA
91 Mahi Reddy SemaConnect Bowie, MD
92 Kevin Czinger Divergent Torrance, CA
93 Kenny Cushing NetCentrics Corporation Herndon, VA
94 David Longo Ordaos New York, NY
95 Kenneth Kahn LRP Media Group Palm Beach, FL
96 Jack Welde Smartling New York, NY
97 Richard Li Ambassador Labs Boston, MA
98 Patrick Coyne LiveControl Santa Monica, CA
99 Kevin Yu SideChef San Jose, CA
100 Kabir Shahani Amperity Seattle, WA
Methodology
- This set of Comparably Awards are derived from sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rated their CEOs on Comparably.com during a 12-month period (November 26, 2020-November 26, 2021).
- Rankings were determined based on a series of questions about CEOs. The answer to each question was given a numerical score and then compared to companies of similar size. Questions include:
- Do you approve of your CEO?
- How would you rate your CEO?
- Do you approve of your CEO’s management style?
- How would you rate the effectiveness of your CEO to drive business results?
- There were no fees or costs associated with participating, nor was nomination required. The final data set was compiled from 15 million ratings across 70,000 CEOs.
- To qualify, Large companies (more than 500 employees) must have met a minimum of 75 employee participants and Small/Mid-Size companies (500 or fewer employees) needed a minimum of 25 employee participants. For fairness and statistical significance, additional weight was given to companies with more participation from their employee base relative to their company size.
About Comparably: Comparably (www.comparably.com) is a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous employee ratings on 70,000 companies. With the most comprehensive data on large and SMB organizations in nearly 20 different workplace categories – based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, industry, location, education – it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third party site for workplace culture and compensation. For more information on Comparably’s studies and annual Best Places to Work & Best Brands Awards, visit www.comparably.com/news.