Barron’s pick of 30 best CEOs include executives from automotive, energy sector

Barron’s, a Dow Jones publication, has released its pick of the 30 best CEOs, based on interviews with investors, analysts and executives. The list identifies corporate leaders who have made a difference to their companies and to their investors. Barron’s criteria also require that the CEO be in their jobs for at least three years and the market value of their companies should be at least US$5 billion. Included in the top 30 are Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who has been busy transforming Berkshire Hathaway from an investment company to a business conglomerate and the U.S.’ fifth largest company in market value. At 80 years old, Buffett recently pulled off a major business coup acquiring Lubrizol Corp., a major petroleum additive maker, for US$9 billion. Last year, Buffet negotiated the acquisition of Burlington Northern Railroad for US$35 billion. Marius Kloppers, CEO of Australian BHP Billiton, heads up the largest mining company in the world with a market value of US$235 billion. Billiton has operations in 25 countries and produces iron ore, lead, zinc, copper and diamonds. Kloppers has recently acquired natural gas assets worth approximately US$5 billion in the U.S. Dimitra DeFotis is the CEO of the French company Alstom, which produces gas and coal-fired turbines, power transmission equipment and high-speed trains. DeFotis most notably brought Alstom back from the edge of bankruptcy to revenues of US$32.5 billion in 2010. This CEO is working to expand the company’s presence in the emerging markets of Russia, Turkey, and China. Peter Loscher, CEO of the German company Siemens, has been busy streamlining the company, cutting the company’s divisions from 11 to three: industrial, energy and healthcare. With this refocus, the company’s profits and dividends are rising. Alan Mulally is the CEO of Ford Motor Co. Mulally is charged with turning around a company on the brink of bankruptcy and producing its current profit of US$6.6 billion for year 2010. His strategy included closing plants, cutting employees, reducing costs and cutting weak automotive brands. Tim Solso, is CEO of Cummins, a company which holds the U.S. market leader position for truck engines and is the world leader in clean diesel technology. The company has made major strides in the developing world including China, India and Brazil. When he took over in 2000, Cummins operated around breakeven. Last year, It earned a record US$1 billion and the stock is up ten-fold since then, including a 140% gain last year –one of the top showings in the S&P 500. Rex Tillerson, is the CEO of ExxonMobil Corp., the global leader in energy. The company is known for its adherence to safety and ethics and under Tillerson’s tutelage, the company is building up its portfolio of profitable endeavors and is ,expanding its presence in Arab countries like Qatar. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, is credited with restoring the reputation of Mercedes-Benz, which suffered from a series of engineering problems. Zetsche is also responsible for getting the company through the financial crises of 2008-2009 which had a huge impact on the automotive industry. The company is targeting China as its most important automotive market. (March 28, 2011)