From innovative work models to leading technology, the top CEO’s role in innovation and transformation of any startup and tech industry have an impact on more than just the bottom line. And these best CEO’s are worth knowing about.

Role of influential CEOs

In an era of rapid technological advancement, the role of business executives has become increasingly crucial in navigating the complexities of emerging trends and innovations. From the continued rise of artificial intelligence to the evolving landscape of digital platforms. Today’s top influential CEOs are at the forefront of shaping the future of industries and redefining the boundaries of what’s possible.

Best CEOs to watch out for in 2024

These dynamic CEO’s lead with purpose, vision, and put their people first. Whether you’ve heard of them, work with them, or are just learning about them for the first time, they’re doing incredible work, making them the top CEOs to watch in 2024.

Michelle Bacharach

Company: FindMine

Tech startup co-founder and CEO, Michelle Bacharach is developing the content creation engine for the world’s iconic brands, FindMine. Michelle has been named one of Inc Magazine’s Top 200 Female Founders. She leads with empathy, kindness, creativity and intelligence, creating a top workplace culture loved by her teams. In addition, she also makes the time to help other founders find success, especially female founders.

Steve Case

Company: Revolution

Steve Case is one of the country’s top tech founders and CEOs. In 1985 he founded America Online (AOL) and under his leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable internet company, driving the worldwide adoption of the transformative technology. Currently, Steve is Chairman and CEO of Revolution, an investment firm. Revolution Growth has invested nearly $1 billion in growth-stage companies including Sweetgreen, Tempus, Tala, DraftKings, and CLEAR. Revolution Ventures has backed more than two dozen venture-stage companies, including Framebridge, GoodBuy Gear, and SRS Acquiom. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund has invested in more than 200 startups in over 100 U.S. cities.

Claire Coder

Company: Aunt Flow

After getting her period in public without the needed supplies, Claire Coder dedicated her life to creating a solution. This was to ensure business and schools could sustainably provide quality period products for free in bathrooms. At eighteen years old, she founded Aunt Flow in 2016 to do just this. The company has been recognized as the ISSA Show 2021 Choice Award and the Sustainable Company of the Year in 2021 as well as the Best Woman-Owned Brand by NBC. Claire was named Forbes 30 Under 30 and received the Thiel Fellowship by the age of 22, making her one of the top CEOs to watch.

Colleen Costello

Company: Vyv

Colleen Costello is a tech founder, clinical researcher, engineer and more. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vyv, a health technology company that has created proprietary continuous-use antimicrobial light technology for public places, consumer products, homes, and industry. Her work as a scientist and a founder have been recognized by major new outlets. She has been named in Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 Most Brilliant Young Founders, 50 Emerging Global Entrepreneurs to Watch by Inc. Magazine, and more.

Jasmine Crowe-Houston

Company: GoodrCo

Jasmine Crowe-Houston is the Co-Founder and CEO of GoodrCo, a sustainable food waste management company that leverages technology to combat hunger. Jasmine has been recognized for her work in CNBC, Oprah Magazine, The New Your Times, Forbes and Fast Company, as well as Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of the top 100 influential female founders. Not only is she a tech founder, but she’s also a children’s book author. Jasmine is a top CEO to watch and an inspiring leader, dedicated to making the future more equitable for all.

Alice Default

Company: Double

Co-founder and CEO of Double, Alice Default has spent the last 10 years helping people spend time on the things that matter most to them. Double is a software platform that connects busy executives with experienced part-time assistants and delegation tools to help them save time and focus on what matters. Alice and her Co-Founders Christophe Lamperti and Pierre-Elie Fauché, met while working at Sunrise Calendar. Later it was acquired by Microsoft. Alice has been recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and raised over $14 million.

Nishika de Rosairo

Company: HumanQ

Nishika de Rosairo is a serial entrepreneur, artist, and CEO of HumanQ, a coaching platform on a mission to address the pain points felt by both individuals and organizations in having access to the right development opportunities. Throughout her experience with some of the biggest brands (from Deloitte to Apple, Cisco to Salesforce and more), Nishika has always focused on people and impact. She has lived on four different continents and is an avid traveler, giving her a unique perspective and a global lens through which she views organizations as well as the future.

Dima Dobrynin

Company: Staxel

CEO Dima Dobrynin is building an emerging hardtech company, Staxel. Working at the intersection of robotics and AI, Staxel is on a mission to create innovative and reliable solutions using robots and AI with ten times the efficiency. Dima’s leadership and hard skills have allowed Staxel to launch a robotic pilot with NewLab Detroit in just six months after company creation. Still in its early stages, Staxel is a small but promising startup with an ambitious vision of becoming an intralogistics automation standard, with Dima at the helm.

Scott Dorsey

Company: High Alpha

Highly influential in the Indianapolis tech ecosystem, Scott Dorsey is an entrepreneur, investor and startup advisor. In 2015, Scott co-founded the venture studio, High Alpha, alongside Kristian Andersen and former ExactTarget executives Mike Fitzgerald and Eric Tobias. High Alpha is a venture studio that helps create and fund B2B SaaS companies. Scott has been widely recognized as a top CEO and entrepreneur, as well as his community work in Indianapolis.

Arlo Gilbert

Company: Osano

Arlo Gilbert is the Co-founded  of Osano. Osano helps in simplifying privacy compliance so companies can stay compliant, increase trust, and do the right thing. Arlo and co-founder Scott Hertel were inspired to create the company after seeing how little top officials understood about how data is stored and shared. As CEO of Osano, Arlo brings over two decades of experience in founding and leading SaaS startups to create value, disrupt the industry, and drive growth. Arlo is a purpose-driven founder, a data privacy pioneer and advocate, and is passionate about shaping the future of data privacy and creating a positive social impact.

Patrick Kelly

Company: Signal Advisors

Co-Founder and CEO of Signal Advisors, Patrick Kelly is a top CEO to watch based in Detroit. Stemming from his own experience in the financial advisor industry, Patrick co-founded Signal Advisors with Jake Cohen and Kevin O’Hara to innovate in the financial advisor industry and provide software that helps them scale their businesses. Patrick was the Detroit Venture Partners Entrepreneur-in-Residence from 2018 – 2020 and has led Signal Advisors through multiple funding rounds. Patrick, Kevin and Jake have created a progressive workplace culture and are committed to putting their people first.

Scott Kim

Company: RocketReach

CEO of RocketReach, a business info-services platform, Scott Kim is a purpose-driven leader who strikes a rare balance of high IQ and EQ. One of his leading qualities appreciated by the RocketReach team is the way he leads with trust. By trusting the team to do their work well and by not gatekeeping, Scott has created an environment that empowers those around him to take on new challenges and believe they can do it. It encourages everyone to grow and learn. RocketReach is a safe space for all questions and offers a seat at the table for everyone, thanks to Scott’s leadership. Leading with empathy and care for his team, Scott makes sure RocketReach takes care of its people and provides an excellent place to work.

Ben Madick

Company: Matic

As the co-founder and CEO of Matic, Ben Madick leads one of the fastest-growing insurance agencies in the U.S. He currently serves on the advisory board of Mortgage Compliance Magazine and as an advisor to numerous U.S. mortgage banks and lenders. As a purpose-driven leader, Ben has set Matic apart from other insurtech companies by delivering an unbiased approach to insurance. The company combines a powerful digital experience with an agency of trusted advisors — real people with a lot of heart.

Geng Wang

Company: Civic Champs

As a CEO of Civic Champs Geng Wang’s team provide seamless and rewarding volunteering experience for both volunteers and service organizations. Geng is a serial entrepreneur and two-time exited founder. He works with passion along with the people he works with to lead with purpose. He is committed to creating a collaborative and open culture that fosters learning and personal growth. This has created a great place to work for people who want to make a positive change in the world.

Cindy Warner

Company: 360ofme

Cindy Warner is the founder and CEO of 360ofme. It is a ethical data exchange platform that transforms the paradigm of personal data ownership by rebuilding trust between ethical enterprises and individuals.  She is one of the startup CEOs to watch out for as she is highly driven by purpose. She is a part of organizations that give back to the community, like Michigan Founders Fund. 360ofme was recently featured on Viewpoint Project with Dennis Quaid, Fox Business.

The post Best CEOs to Watch in 2024 Leading with Innovation and Purpose appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Growth is a natural part of life. Everyone desires to develop personally and professionally. While climbing a corporate ladder might not always be easy, it is not impossible. Some of the top CEOs tell us how they managed to reach the top while starting at the bottom rung. Most CEOS also credit their rise to constant innovation and urge people to never stop reinventing themselves. A culture of constant innovation also helps keep your company ahead of the pack.

CEO successes: A climb to the top

1.  David Cote (CEO of Honeywell from 2022-2017)

At 21, Cote was an hourly employee at the General Electric jet engine plant. He believes that leadership is about respecting the people you work with and letting them know through your actions. A great leader must be able to convince his or her people that they have their backs.  Cote gives an example of asking for a certain set of projections regarding ROI while working as a mid-level planner. He tried to convince the team that the CEO Jack Welch would not want it, but ended up asking for it anyway as his team wanted him to. He was reprimanded and Cote thought his job was in jeopardy. Months later, Welch learned that Cote had prioritized the team’s wishes over his own and was impressed with his leadership. Cote was then given a three-level jump to a role that involved managing 200 employees.

 2.  Chris Rondeau (CEO of Planet Fitness from 2013)

One of the top CEOs of today, Rondeau recommends being fearless when it comes to grabbing opportunities. When he was still in college, he took a job, working part-time at the front desk of Planet Fitness. Later, as the gym expanded he convinced the two founders to sell the atmosphere of the gym over the equipment to attract more people. As he moved up in the company, the founders made him a partner in 2003 and the position of COO. His advice is, “In our industry, it’s easy to become infatuated with the competition. I stay infatuated with the consumer.” Rondeau looks at his journey from the front to the CEO as different levels of schooling. He was made CEO in 2013.

3.  Monique Nelson (CEO if UniWorld from 2012)

A trendsetter and a CEO success story, Nelson makes it a point to involve people of color and of different socioeconomic statuses in her work. Entering the corporate world with a sales and marketing job at International Paper at 21, Nelson found that things were not as uniform as she would like. She then wrote up an employee manual to address the various issues she faced. After a move to Motorola, she started working on client management, strategy, and supply chain management. The exposure helped her hone her skills and lead big marketing campaigns. In 2007 she joined UniWorld as a senior account executive before advancing to chairman and CEO. Nelson likes exploring new things and believes that her career has thrived because she makes it a point to give back to the community.

 4.  Ilene Gordon (CEO of Ingredion from 2009 to 2017)

Gordon started her career as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group at 23. She reveals that at BCG she learned to advocate for herself and was armed with data to show how she brought value to the company. After she was moved to a profit and loss role, a mentor advised her to get to know, understand, and figure out how to motivate her much older colleagues.

She reveals, “Throughout my career, I’ve stayed true to myself. That meant making choices consistent with my goals. I tried never to lose sight of my priorities: I wanted the corner office. I also wanted a thriving family.”

Gordon mentions that her priority was both work and family. Before joining Ingredion, she was president and CEO of Alcan Packaging.  She has been listed on the Forbes Global Game Changers list and was one of FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Women for a number of years.

5.  Hans Gieskes (CEO of Cision from 2008 to 2013)

Gieskes’ philosophy is “Don’t overpromise and under-deliver. But do the reverse.” His first job was production coordinator at Mouton Publishers, age 22. Starting out as low-level production coordination helped Giesekes grow into his potential and become a CEO success story.  At his first job, he learned the value of asking more questions and doing his research. When he moved to Elsevier, a science publishing company, the company’s chairman mentored him and advised him to withhold judgment with regards to his colleagues.

Gieskes says that ever since he has found that “asking questions is a great way to get people to improve things and accept organizational change.

Currently, he is active as an investor and advisor in the M&A world.

The world’s best CEOs always advise us to be unafraid to fail. What that means can differ from person to person. A Harvard Business Review revealed that CEOs of top companies are reliable, inclusive, and impactful. As leaders in their own right, even without a title, these individuals sought to inspire others and helped people dream more and become more. To become a CEO success example, it is important to see leadership as service to others.

The post Five CEO Success Stories: Onward and Upward appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.