Tencent founder Huateng Ma plummets from first to 24th brand guardian
Chanel chief Leena Nair is the top-ranking woman, in 19th place
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the comeback kid of CEOs, dramatically improving his rank in the Brand Guardianship Index despite Tesla losing USD15 billion in brand value. Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, releases an annual ranking of the world’s top CEOs based on the perceptions of analysts, investors, and informed public. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, is the top ranked CEO, and delivers the tech giant 26% brand growth per year on average.
Huateng Ma, CEO of Tencent, dropped the furthest down the list, from first in 2024 to 24th in 2025, despite WeChat remaining the world’s strongest brand for the second year, with a Brand Strength Index score of 95.2 out of 100 and an AAA+ brand strength rating. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is third ranked, unsurprising given that the AI giant broke into the top 10 most valuable brands in the world for 2025 after surging 98% to USD87.9 billion and securing the 9th place spot.
The highest-ranked woman in the 2025 BGI is Chanel CEO Lenna Nair, ranked 19th overall and one of only 7 women in the list of the 100. 2025 is the 7th year Brand Finance has researched and ranked CEOs and every year, the proportion of women in the whole sample as well as top 100 is consistently between 6-8% with limited progress.
Brand Finance data reveals that from 2023 to 2025, twice as many of the CEOs in the Index were appointed externally, as opposed to promoted from within. The data also indicates that externally appointed CEOs are more effective, leading their companies in 25% brand value growth on average, compared to an average 16% brand growth under the leadership of internally appointed CEOs.
Annie Brown, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, commented: “The rising number of CEOs in the Brand Guardianship Index who are external hires supports a shift to change-driven leadership, an approach that is directly connected to brand value growth. Brands need to be agile and open to change to adapt, survive and grow in a dynamic, unpredictable global marketplace. CEOs increasingly need to make big change happen, but to do so, they need to engage and inspire their people while inspiring meaningful, long-term value creation. Our data indicates an emerging trend that CEOs who are externally appointed have stronger reputations and are more successful, and Brand Finance expects that future BGI research will demonstrate the continuation of that trend.”
In 2025, the top driver of CEO reputation is “Genuinely cares about employees,” indicating a shift toward human-centred leadership. The next key drivers, in decreasing order, are: “Inspires positive change,” “Trustworthy,” “Understands customer needs,” and “Champions sustainability.”
