With over a third of the market value of all public companies represented by just over half a dozen tech companies, the media is focused on AI dramas, but how about the under-showcased performance stories from the other two-thirds of the market — and most of corporate America?
While the financial markets remained focused on AI developments for 2025, public companies outside the tech sector pressed ahead with growth strategies, launched new products, expanded into new markets, carried out complex turnarounds, acquired competitors, and navigated external challenges, many of them to do with offsetting tariff costs. Some CEOs from these large corporations executed their initiatives exceptionally well, and others did not.
Still, with so much attention remained focused on the AI trade, top performers and other impressive leaders to watch for the new year were often overlooked. To move beyond the critical yet often-hyped AI narrative in myopic markets, we selected 12 top leaders, outside tech, to highlight.
Top Performers of 2025
Citigroup has been transformed from an unwieldy financial services behemoth into a turnaround star under CEO Jane Fraser’s “Project Bora Bora” restructuring. The returns from the masterfully executed multi-year effort became clear in 2025. Full-year revenues are tracking toward $84 billion, the highest since 2010. The latest earnings quarter saw all five business segments hit quarterly records.
