Adobe, Pipefy CEOs top 2021 rankings

The CEOs of San Jose, CA-based Adobe and San Francisco-based Pipefy lead this year’s lists of the highest-rated chief executive officers for large and small-/medium-sized companies.

That’s according to Comparably, a Santa Monica, CA-based platform that provides culture and compensation data for public and private companies. Each list is based on sentiment ratings provided by anonymous employees, who evaluated their bosses based on a series of questions. Large companies are defined as those with more than 500 employees, while small-/medium-sized firms have fewer than 500 staff.

“For fairness and statistical significance, additional weight was given to companies with more participation from their employee base,” according to Comparably’s methodology.

In the category for large firms, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was the highest-rated executive for 2021. Per department, the customer support and admin gave him the highest ratings with respective 98 and 97 scores out of 100. In terms of ethnicity, Native American workers gave Narayen the highest score with a 97 out of 100. “Our CEO acts like an adult. He doesn't make a fool of himself on Twitter. And he makes an active effort to do good things for the global community,” said an Adobe employee.

California CEOs comprised 37% of the top 100 list for large companies, with Narayen, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, RingCentral CEO Vladimir Shmunis, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig all cracking the top 10.

Respondents offered a variety of reasons for their leaders’ high scores.

“Eric’s focus on happiness – for our customers and our employees – is infectious and permeates the organization from the top down,” said a Zoom employee. Meanwhile, a RingCentral employee highlighted Shmunis being an “advocate for diversity and equity.” A Google employee cited the benefits that Pichai provides his talent, adding that working at the tech juggernaut is a “very fun and profound experience.” A Chegg employee said they “love Dan Rosensweig’s passion for the education tech space.”

Here are the other leading CEOs of large firms:

1. Shatanu Narayen (Adobe)
2. Arvind Krishna (IBM)
3. Satya Nadella (Microsoft)
4. Eric Yuan (Zoom Video Communications)
5. Jim Loree (Stanley Black & Decker)
6. Vladimir Shmunis (RingCentral)
7. Henry Schuck (ZoomInfo)
8. John Foley (Peloton)
9. Sundar Pichai (Google)
10. Dan Rosenweig (Chegg)
11. Sarah Friar (Nextdoor)
12. Kumsal Bayazit (Elsevier)
13. Jeffrey Dailey (Farmers Insurance)
14. Bert Bean (Insight Global)
15. Tomer Weingarten (SentinelOne)
16. Archie Black (SPS Commerce)
17. Bryce Maddock (TaskUs)
18. Mike Salvino (DXC Technology)
19. Leslie Stretch (Medallia)
20. Kenneth Lin (Credit Karma)
21. Robert G. Painter (Trimble)
22. Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber)
23. Anne Wojcicki (23andMe)
24. Carlos Rodriguez (ADP)
25. Timothy Cook (Apple)

Read more: Revealed: Top CEOs of 2021

Alessio Alionco from Pipefy was voted the highest-rated CEO for small- and medium-sized companies.

The executive has an employee rating of 229 and a score of 95 out of 100, according to Comparably. “Transparent with company goals, hosts regular all-hands meetings to share results and is invested in sharing how each team contributes to the company overall,” said a Pipefy employee.

California CEOs comprised 42% of the top 100 list for small- and medium-sized companies, with Alionco, Civic Financial Services CEO William J. Tessar, People.ai CEO Oleg Rogynskyy, Deem CEO David Grace, Globality CEO Joel Hyatt and Revenue.io CEO Howard Brown all cracking the top 10.

Respondents had plenty of high praise to heap upon their leaders.

“Howard is a true visionary in the field, leading the company to a genuinely exciting future,” said a Revenue.io employee. Meanwhile, a People.ai employee called Rogynskyy “radically transparent,” and a Globality employee called Hyatt “experienced and bold.” Grace was commended on keeping employees “informed about anything” and Tessar was praised for encouraging the company’s core values to be practiced even “outside of work.”

Here are the other leading CEOs of small- and medium-sized firms:

1. Alessio Alionco (Pipefy)
2. Ross Wainwright (Alida)
3. William Tessar (Civic Financial Services)
4. Oleg Rogynskyy (People.ai)
5. Larry Dunivan (Namely)
6. David Grace (Deem)
7. Melanie Nallicheri (EQRx)
8. Joel Hyatt (Globality)
9. Joe Longo (Velosio)
10. Howard Brown (Revenue.io)
11. Gene Berdichevsky (Sila Nanotechnologies)
12. Sam Bobley (Ocrolus)
13. John Swigart (Pie Insurance)
14. Chuck Reuggiero (Optomi)
15. Kip Hollister (The Hollister Group)
16. Steven Bartel (Gem.com)
17. Alex Howland (Virbela)
18. Hunter Madeley (Vena Solutions)
19. Rich Waldron (tray.io)
20. Donald Brown (LifeOmic)
21. Terrie Curran (Phathom Pharmaceuticals)
22. Aaron Johnson (APS Payroll)
23. Tony Safoian (SADA Systems)
24. Noboyuki Ashia (MISUMI
25. Alfonso de la Nuez & Dan Fishback (UserZoom)