Satya Nadella is Fortune’s ‘Businessperson of the Year’
| Date :21-Nov-2019 |
By Yoshita Singh :
NEW YORK
MICROSOFT’S India-born Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has occupied the top spot in Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year 2019 list, an annual compilation that also includes Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga and Arista head Jayshree Ullal. Fortune’s annual Businessperson of the Year list features 20 business leaders “who tackled audacious goals, overcame impossible odds, found creative solutions”. The list is topped by Nadella, who has been at the helm of the technology giant since 2014.
“In a year dominated by political chaos and bluster, it was a rare brand of steady — even quiet — leadership that won the day in the business world. And no one epitomises that brand of obsessively results-driven, team-based leadership more than our new No. 1 Businessperson of the Year,” Fortune said. Banga is ranked 8th, while Ullal comes in at the 18th spot in the list for which Fortune looked at 10 financial factors ranging from total return to shareholders to return on capital.
Both Banga and Ullal are of Indian-origin. Fortune said Nadella, a computer scientist, was “neither a founder like Bill Gates, nor a big-personality sales leader like his predecessor, Steve Ballmer when he was named the “surprise choice” to lead the Microsoft in 2014. “I am wired to be fairly confident in myself and to let others shine,” Fortune quotes Nadella as saying.