World's 10 best CEOs

The Harvard Business Review recently ranked CEOs of large public traded companies in a study conducted over 2000 CEOs worldwide.

The entire group represented 48 nationalities and companies based in 33 countries.

The likes of Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison and Bill Gates do not find mention in the list as HBR considered CEOs who assumed the job no earlier than January 1995 and no later than December 2007.

Mukesh Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries Limited, is the only Indian to be ranked among the 100 best performing CEOs in the world. To know about others whom Ambani is in league with, read on.

1. Steve Jobs

For the Apple CEO, 2009 began on a grim note with Jobs taking a long leave to cure what he described 'a nutritional problem'.

"I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery", he explained. Jobs's ill health had led to speculation that his pancreatic cancer was back and shares of the company plunged.

Apple products under Jobs's leadership continue to win mass appeal.

The company posted a revenue of $10.17 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion for the quarter ended December 27, 2008. During this period, Apple sold 2,524,000 Macintosh, a 9 per cent growth over the year-ago quarter.

In 2008, Apple sold 10 million iPhones and more than 54 million iPods -- a record 22,727,000 (iPods) were sold in the December quarter itself.

Today, Apple has 35,000 employees worldwide.

. . .

2. Yun Jong-Yong

The CEO of Samsung Electronics Company has been with the group from 1966.

During his long stint in the group, he has won many accolades.

Among them are bronze medal for contribution to industry, Republic of South Korea, 1990, gold medal for contribution to industry, Republic of South Korea, 1992, engineering alumnus award, Seoul National University, 1995, outstanding achievement in management award, most successful CEO in Korea, Korea Management Association, 1999, Top 25 Managers of the Year, BusinessWeek, 2003, Asia's Businessman of the Year, Fortune, 2000 and Asia Business Leader Award, CNBC, 2002.

3. Alexey B Miller

Alexey Borisovich Miller is deputy chairman of the board of directors and chairman of the management committee (CEO) of Russian energy company Gazprom.

The latter is Russia's largest company and the world's biggest natural gas producer.

In December 2005, Miller was named Person of the Year by Russian business weekly Expert.

Chambers is chairman of the board and CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc.

Chambers joined Cisco in 1991 as senior vice president, worldwide sales and operations.

Ever since Chambers assumed the role of CEO, the company has grown from $1.2 billion in annual revenues to approximately $40 billion.

5. Mukesh Ambani

The eldest of the Ambani brothers is the chairman, managing director and the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries.

His personal stake in Reliance Industries is 48 per cent.

His wealth valued at $32 Billion by Forbes makes him India's wealthiest person.

It should be mentioned here that the recent fight for gas supplies between Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd and his younger brother's Anil's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd has put the Indian government on the backfoot.

6. John C Martin

Martin joined Gilead Sciences in 1990 and currently serves as chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer.

He served as president and CEO from 1996 through May 2008.

Prior to joining Gilead, Martin held several leadership positions in the antiviral chemistry division at Bristol-Myers Squibb and worked for six years with Syntex Corporation.

7. Jeffrey P Bezos

Jeffrey Preston 'Jeff' Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.

Bezos showed exceptional scientific interests at an early age. He rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger siblings out of his room and maintain his privacy. When he was a toddler, he tried dismantling his crib with a screwdriver.

Bezos was awarded an honorary doctorate in Science and Technology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.

8. Margaret C Whitman

Margaret Cushing 'Meg' Whitman was president and CEO of eBay from March 1998 to March 2008, when she stepped down from her role.

She is a Republican candidate for Governor of California in the November 2010 election.

She supports expansion of employment, control of state government spending and improvement in the quality of public education.

9. Eric E Schmidt

Eric Emerson Schmidt is an engineer, chairman/CEO of Google Inc and a former member of the board of directors of Apple Inc.

Early in his career, Schmidt held a series of technical positions with IT companies, including Bell Labs, Zilog and Xerox's famed Palo Alto Research Center.

He joined Sun Microsystems in 1983, led its Java development efforts and rose to become chief technology officer.

10. Hugh Grant

Grant is responsible for General and active management and supervision of the business of Monsanto.

Monsanto is an agricultural company that applies innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more.

Before assuming the post of CEO, Grant served the company as the executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was also the managing director, all Monsanto business units in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.