The women running Europe in 2026

Twenty of the leaders celebrated in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list are from Europe. Their roles reveal where power is concentrated across the continent and what it takes to reach the top of European business.

Europe might like to think of itself as a global leader in gender equality. Yet when it comes to corporate power, the picture is less flattering. Women still lead only a small minority of the continent’s largest companies. In Fortune’s 2025 ranking of Europe’s 500 biggest businesses, just 38 companies—7.6% of the total—had female chief executives.  

That lack of representation is reflected in Fortune Most Powerful Women list. Now in its 29th year, the ranking recognizes the world’s most influential female business leaders. Of the 100 women featured this year, only 20 are based in Europe, with France and the U.K. accounting for the lion’s share (six each). 

For the women who do make the cut, their roles offer a revealing look at where power and influence are concentrated across the continent. Rather than leading a wave of newer tech companies—like comparable U.S. lists—many sit at the helm of businesses that have long formed the backbone of Europe’s economy: banks, energy groups, telecommunications operators, and luxury houses.  

This year’s ranking also shows just how often a finance background serves as a route to the top. Seven of the women featured have served in senior finance roles, including chief financial officer positions, reflecting the premium European companies place on capital allocation and operational discipline. 

Another striking theme is the route these women took to power. Few are founders. Instead, most built their careers inside large multinational organizations, often spending decades climbing the ranks before reaching the corner office. Their careers span continents and industries, but they share a common trait: deep institutional expertise. In an era that often celebrates disruption, Europe’s corporate landscape still tends to reward experience and operational excellence. 

The women on this list oversee hundreds of billions of euros in annual revenue and employ millions of people around the world. Many lead institutions that are more than a century old yet are the first women ever to occupy the top role. Their success reflects genuine progress. But the fact that so many are still breaking “firsts” suggests that Europe still has a way to go. 

1. Ana Botín 

Botín has been at the helm of Banco Santander for more than a decade, taking over from her father in 2014. She has guided the bank through a challenging period for European lenders, marked by low interest rates, tighter capital requirements, and rapid technological change, while significantly expanding Santander’s international footprint. 

Under the 65-year old’s leadership, Santander has pursued a series of major deals, including the sale of much of its Polish business, the roughly £2.7bn acquisition of TSB in the U.K, and the $12.2bn takeover of Webster Financial in the U.S. These moves have strengthened Santander’s position as one of Europe’s leading banking groups. 

Beyond traditional banking, Botín has also championed innovation and entrepreneurship. Through initiatives such as Santander X and the bank’s investments in digital and blockchain technology, she has pushed Santander to support start-ups, scale-ups, and the wider innovation ecosystem—alongside its core banking business. She serves on the board of Coca-Cola and on the advisory board of MIT.  

2. Meg O’Neil 

An engineer by training, O’Neil became BP’s first female chief executive in the company’s 116-year history—and the first woman to lead any of the world’s five largest oil majors. Her appointment in 2026 marked the first time BP hired an external candidate for the top role.  

Prior to this, O’Neil spent 23 years at ExxonMobil and served as CEO of the Australian oil and gas company, Woodside Energy, where she led the merger with BHP’s petroleum division—doubling the company’s fossil fuel production. 

The 55-year-old from Colorado is now tasked with reviving BP’s performance, restoring investor confidence, and steering the company’s strategy back toward profitable oil and gas expansion. 

Courtesy of BP

3. Catherine MacGregor 

MacGregor has led ENGIE since 2021, bringing more than three decades worth of experience in the energy industry, including senior roles at TechnipFMC, Technip Energies, and Schlumberger. At the time of her appointment, she was the only female CEO in France’s CAC-40 stock index.   

The French utility company reported €71.9bn ($83.5bn) in revenue in 2025, down from the previous year. A landmark moment in MacGregor’s tenure came in 2026 when ENGIE completed its acquisition of U.K. Power Networks, one of the UK’s largest electricity distribution operators. The deal significantly expands ENGIE’s regulated infrastructure footprint and marks the company’s next phase of growth as demand for electrification accelerates across Europe. 

MacGregor is an advocate of diversity and has spoken about advancing the role of artificial intelligence in accelerating Europe’s low-carbon energy future. She also serves as an independent director on Microsoft’s board. 

4. Estelle Brachlianoff  

Born in France to Bulgarian parents, Brachlianoff became CEO of Veolia in 2022 after spending nearly two decades rising through the ranks of the Paris-based utility giant. She joined the company in 2005 as a special adviser in its waste solutions division and went on to hold a series of senior leadership roles across France and the U.K. 

Under her leadership, Veolia has continued to strengthen its position as a global leader in water, waste, and energy management. The company reported revenue of €44.3 billion ($51.6 billion) in 2025, exceeding its initial guidance. 

A key feature of Brachlianoff’s strategy has been expanding Veolia’s presence in North America and investing in high-value environmental technologies. Over the past year, the group moved to take full ownership of its water technologies business and advanced the acquisition of U.S. hazardous-waste specialist Clean Earth—significantly expanding Veolia’s footprint and capabilities across the North American market. 

Brachlianoff serves on the supervisory board of Hermès International, one of France’s most valuable luxury groups.  

Courtesy of Veolia

5. Marta Ortega Perez 

Ortega became chair of Inditex in 2022, succeeding her father, Amancio Ortega, the billionaire founder of the Spanish fashion empire behind Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, and Bershka. As chair, she’s modernized the group’s approach, placing greater emphasis on digital growth and customer experience. 

Despite an increasingly competitive retail landscape, Inditex reported record sales of €39.9bn ($46bn) and net profit of €6.2bn ($7.2bn) in 2025.  

Ortega has worked to elevate Zara’s brand beyond fast fashion, through a series of creative collaborations and a stronger focus on design, helping the group distinguish itself from a growing wave of fast-fashion competitors.  

A graduate of Regent’s University London, Ortega spent more than 15 years working across the business, gaining experience through shop-floor operations, product development, and brand management.  

The Spanish businesswoman founded the Marta Ortega Pérez (MOP) Foundation in 2022. The organization has become known for bringing major international exhibitions in fashion and photography to her hometown of A Coruña, Spain.   

6. Anna Borg 

As president and CEO of Vattenfall, Borg leads one of Europe’s largest energy companies, overseeing around 21,000 employees across several markets. The 55-year-old has spent almost her entire career at Vattenfall, apart from a brief stint at the fintech company Klarna. She has held a handful of senior leadership roles at Vattenfall—including CFO—before taking the top job. 

Borg has emerged as one of Europe’s most prominent voices on the energy transition, arguing that sustainability and profitability must go hand-in-hand. Under her leadership, Vattenfall has accelerated investments in fossil-free electricity generation and low-carbon industrial projects, positioning Vattenfall as a key player in the region’s energy transition.  

7. Leena Nair 

After a three-decades-long career at Unilever, where she was the youngest ever female CHRO, Nair became the global CEO of luxury juggernaut Chanel in 2021. Born and educated in India before building a global career in the U.K. and Europe, Nair is the first woman of color to become chief and among the few women of color leading a global luxury brand.  

As CEO, Nair has invested heavily in innovation across beauty, skincare, and sustainability, and remained aggressive in tackling counterfeit products. Her strategy has paid off: despite a slowdown across the luxury industry, the 115-year-old family-owned Chanel has continued to outperform many of its peers, generating $9.3bn in revenue in its most recent full-year results.  

Nair has emphasized social impact, including increasing funding for Foundation Chanel to $100m to support programs focused on the economic empowerment of women and girls worldwide. 

Courtesy of Chanel

8. Bianca Tetteroo  

Tetteroo has spent her entire career at Achmea, the Dutch insurance and financial services group, working her way up from finance director to divisional chief executive to chair of the executive board—a position she has held since 2021. 

The results speak for themselves. Achmea posted a net profit of €1.2bn ($1.4bn) in 2025. Yet Tetteroo appears equally focused on what comes next: she has made artificial intelligence central to how the business operates and has pushed sustainability from aspiration to measurable commitment, with impact investments now accounting for 12.2% of Achmea’s own investment portfolio, ahead of the 10% target the company set itself. 

9. Karin Rådström 

When Rådström took the helm at Daimler Truck in 2024, she made history—becoming the first woman to lead the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. It was a fitting appointment. A trained engineer who had built her reputation at Scania before joining Daimler in 2021 to run Mercedes-Benz Trucks. 

The timing was not easy. The global transport industry has faced significant headwinds, and Rådström has had to balance near-term profitability with longer-term bets on battery-electric and hydrogen-powered trucks. 

So far, the business has held its ground. Daimler Truck generated revenue of more than €54bn in 2025, and under Rådström’s leadership, it remains one of the most consequential players shaping the future of how the world moves goods 

Courtesy of Daimler Truck Holder

10. Belén Garijo 

Garijo is chief executive of Merck Group, the German science and technology company with a history stretching back more than 300 years. A trained physician, she is the first woman to lead the business—a distinction that carries weight in an industry that has been slow to diversify at the top. 

She joined Merck in 2011 and worked her way through a series of senior roles before succeeding Stefan Oschmann as CEO. Since then, she has broadened the company’s reach across healthcare, life sciences, and electronics, while pushing up investment in research and development. Much of that growth has been driven by rising demand for Merck’s laboratory and bioprocessing technologies—tools that sit at the heart of pharmaceutical manufacturing and scientific research globally. 

Garijo has also used acquisitions to move the business into higher-growth territory, targeting capabilities in biotechnology and advanced materials. Beyond the balance sheet, she has become one of Europe’s most prominent voices on diversity in science and corporate leadership. 

11. Margherita Della Valle  

Delle Valle has spent three decades at Vodafone, joining in 1994 and working her way from the CFO of its Italian segment to European CFO and eventually group CFO in 2018—before being appointed CEO in 2023, becoming one of just ten female bosses leading a FTSE 100 company at the time. 

Delle Valle has pushed through major portfolio changes—selling assets, consolidating operations across key European markets, and striking one of the sector’s most significant deals: the £15bn merger with Three UK, which closed in May 2025. The combined business, now trading as VodafoneThree, has committed to investing £11bn over the next ten years to build what it describes as one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks.  

Courtesy of Vodafone Group

12. Bettina Orlopp 

Orlopp took over as CEO of Commerzbank in 2024, after more than a decade rising through the ranks at Germany’s second-largest lender—most recently as chief financial officer. She is the first woman to run the bank in its 156-year history. 

She didn’t get long to settle in. In 2026, Italy’s UniCredit came knocking with a €39bn takeover bid, having built up a stake of more than 30% in the bank. Commerzbank declined the offer, arguing it didn’t come close to reflecting what the business was actually worth. Orlopp’s response was to go on the offensive, raising profitability targets and announcing plans to cut around 3,000 jobs by the end of the decade, essentially making the case that Commerzbank doesn’t need rescuing. 

It has been a baptism of fire. The takeover battle has turned Orlopp from a well-regarded finance executive into one of the most watched banking bosses in Europe. 

13. Allison Kirkby 

When Kirkby took over as chief executive of BT Group in February 2024, her focus was on slimming down the operation while pouring money into the fibre and 5G networks that the U.K.’s digital future runs on. 

Two years later, BT’s 5G+ network now reaches around 73% of the U.K. population, and Openreach is on track to pass full-fibre broadband to more than 25 million homes and businesses by the end of 2026. Despite a tough competitive environment and some weakness in its international arm, BT posted a pre-tax profit of roughly $1.9bn in fiscal 2026 — up 8% on the year before. 

Investors have taken notice. By May 2026, BT’s share price had more than doubled since she took the helm—a remarkable turnaround for a company that had long frustrated the market.  

14. Christel Heydemann  

Heydemann is the first woman ever to hold the CEO role at Orange. After graduating from France’s prestigious École Polytechnique and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, she began her career in 1997 at Boston Consulting Group as an analyst.  

Heydemann has also held senior roles at Schneider Electric France and Alstom. She has served on Orange’s board since 2017 and chairs its strategic committee, playing a central role in governance and succession planning.  

As CEO, Heydemann has guided Orange to stable growth in core markets and played a key role in the company’s ESG efforts. The French telecoms giant reported full-year 2025 revenues of €40.3bn ($46.8bn) a 0.9% increase year-on-year.  

Courtesy of Orange

15. Dominique Senequie

Senequier founded Ardian in 1996 with a vision of building a different kind of private investment firm—one that prioritized long-term value creation and employee ownership. Three decades later, that vision has transformed Ardian into one of Europe’s largest private markets investors. 

In 2026, Ardian surpassed $200bn in assets under management, cementing its position among the industry’s global leaders. Ardian has also maintained strong fundraising momentum, attracting more than $20 billion in new capital for the third consecutive year in 2025. 

One of just seven women admitted to France’s prestigious École Polytechnique in 1972, Senequier built her career by breaking barriers in traditionally male-dominated industries. That pioneering streak is reflected in Ardian’s ownership structure, which Senequier designed specifically to give employees a direct stake in the firm’s success.

16. Sinead Gorman 

Gorman has served as CFO of Shell since 2022, capping a career that has spanned more than two decades at the energy giant. The financier started in trading before moving through mergers and acquisitions, treasury, and senior finance roles across Shell’s upstream and shale businesses.  

As finance chief, Gorman has played a central role in driving Shell’s focus on capital discipline and shareholder returns. Since 2022, the company has delivered more than $5bn in structural cost reductions while maintaining a strong balance sheet and generating significant cash flow. In 2025, Shell returned more than half of its operating cash flow to shareholders, and by early 2026 had completed 18 consecutive quarters of share buybacks worth at least $3bn. 

With Shell doubling down on oil and LNG at a time when many investors are scrutinizing the pace of the energy transition, Gorman has had to explain and defend its strategy to the market. 

17. Anna Manz 

Manz joined Nestlé as chief financial officer in March 2024 at a pivotal moment for the company. Within 18 months, she found herself navigating both an unexpected CEO transition and a sweeping strategic overhaul at the world’s largest food and beverage group. 

The former London Stock Exchange Group CFO has played a central role in communicating Nestlé’s turnaround plan to investors, helping shape a strategy focused on four core growth areas: coffee, pet care, nutrition, and food and snacks.  

As the company works to reignite growth in an increasingly competitive market, Manz has been central to keeping the group’s transformation on track. There were early signs of progress in 2025. Organic growth accelerated to 3.5%, up from 2.2% the previous year, while free cash flow exceeded guidance. Although reported sales and net profit declined, Manz has consistently argued that Nestlé remains in the early stages of its transformation and that the benefits of the overhaul should become increasingly evident as momentum builds through 2026. 

18. Delphine Arnault  

Arnault has spent more than two decades building her career within LVMH, the luxury empire founded by her father, Bernard Arnault. After joining the group in 2000, she rose through a series of senior leadership roles and, in 2019, became the youngest member—and only the second woman—to join LVMH’s executive committee. 

In 2023, Arnault was appointed chairman and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture. The fashion house had been among the luxury industry’s standout performers, with revenues estimated by HSBC to have quadrupled to €9.5 billion between 2017 and 2023. 

Since taking the helm, however, Arnault has had to navigate a tumultuous environment. Dior, like much of the luxury sector, has faced slowing demand and growing consumer resistance to years of price increases. Her tenure has also been tested by scrutiny of labor practices within parts of Dior’s supply chain. In 2026, the company agreed to settle an Italian investigation into subcontractors without admitting wrongdoing, drawing unwelcome attention to the brand’s operations. 

As Bernard Arnault’s eldest child, she remains widely regarded as the frontrunner to one day lead LVMH itself. In the meantime, she has made clear that her ambitions extend beyond the balance sheet—she is a vocal champion of emerging design talent through the LVMH Prize, one of fashion’s most prestigious awards for young designers. 

Laurent Humbert

19. Rachel Lord 

As head of international at BlackRock, Lord oversees operations across more than 75 countries, with around 10,000 people managing $3.3tn in client assets outside North America. BlackRock reported annual revenue of $23.5bn for fiscal 2025. 

It is a role she has spent more than a decade building toward. The former Morgan Stanley and Citigroup executive joined BlackRock in 2013, built its Europe, Middle East and Africa business from the inside, then relocated to Hong Kong to run Asia-Pacific. In Asia, she pushed the firm’s sustainable investing ambitions into new territory, launching climate-focused ETFs in Japan and Singapore at a moment when regional appetite for such products was still taking shape. 

20. Melanie Kreis  

Kreis has served as chief financial officer of DHL Group since 2017 and was, at the time of her appointment, the only woman on the company’s executive board. A physicist by training, with an MBA from INSEAD, she began her career at McKinsey & Company before moving to private equity firm Apax Partners. She joined Deutsche Post DHL in 2004, making her way through the upper ranks of one of the world’s largest logistics companies. 

As a child, Kreis dreamed of becoming an astronaut—a career ambition she later joked was cut short by her need for glasses. The German businesswoman described herself as “curious, collaborative and pragmatic”—qualities that have served her well as she helped steer DHL through pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and shifting global trade patterns.  

Under her financial leadership, the logistics giant delivered earnings growth in the second quarter of 2025 despite continued uncertainty across international markets. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com