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Updated May 14th, 2021 at 14:05 IST

World's 50 Greatest Leaders: New Zealand PM tops Fortune's list, Adar Poonawalla in top 10

Other than New Zealand PM, mRNA pioneers; Paypal CEO Daniel H Schulman; NBA Rescuers also made it to Fortune'slist of 50 greatest leaders.

Reported by: Priya Pareek
New Zealand
(Image credit: AP/Twitter) | Image:self
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden topped Fortune's list of the world's 50 greatest leaders and Adar Poonawalla too made it to the list. CEO of Serum Institute of India, Poonawalla is the only Indian among the top 10 names on the list. Ardern has been lauded for her efficiency in tackling and stopping the coronavirus surge in her country. Poonawalla, on the other hand, has also played a significant role in the manufacturing and supplying COVID-19 vaccines.

Other names who made it to the list of top 10 of the top 50 leaders include mRNA pioneers; Paypal CEO Daniel H Schulman; NBA Rescuers; Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s John Nkengasong; Ping An’s Jessica Tan among others.

Jacinda Ardern tops the list

Jacinda Ardern has received massive praise from across the world for her role in tackling COVID-19 from spreading in New Zealand.  According to Fortune, “Though there have been a few scares, her strategy largely proved successful; New Zealand, a nation of nearly 5 million people, has seen fewer than 2,700 cases and only 26 deaths." It added that Ardern and her cabinet ministers took a six-month, 20 per cent pay cut in 2020 to show solidarity with people who had lost their livelihoods owing to the pandemic.

Adar Poonawalla

The only Indian in the top 10 list, Poonwalla is recognised for taking the task of bringing an end to the global pandemic by supplying COVID-19 vaccines. He heads the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII). Poonawalla’s company has been providing “global vaccine equity, providing low-cost vaccines to fight diseases like influenza, measles, and tetanus.” Now, “the SII has pledged to deliver up to 2 billion vaccine doses in the coming years to COVAX, a global initiative to provide vaccines to lower- and middle-income countries…”

Other top 10 world leaders

mRNA Pioneers have been listed second on the list. Fortune noted, "While it’s already paying off in the fight against COVID, mRNA has only begun to show its potential. Compared with traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines are both easy to tweak—to react, for example, to variants of a global virus like SARS-CoV-2—and relatively easy to scale up. But wherever its deployment ultimately leads, what may seem like overnight success was the product of years of hard work and calculated risk-taking, by leaders whose place in the pharma pantheon now seems assured."

Daniel H Schulman, American business executive and president and CEO of PayPal, has been named the third Greatest Leader on the list. Fortune said, “Schulman’s investment in PayPal’s own employees has been just as groundbreaking.” 

Dr John Nkengasong, who serves as the first Director of Africa CDC, was praised by Fortune for his role in his fight against spread of COVID-19. A leading virologist with nearly 30 years of work experience in public health, Nkengasong "has weathered the COVID crisis much more successfully than many far richer countries, including the United States.”

NBA Rescuers are the fifth in the list as they “spent weeks constructing the bubble plan”. Adam Silver NBA commissioner; Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA); and Chris Paul, a longtime star point guard and the president of the NBPA, were the key players who saved the NBA.

Jessica Tan, co-CEO, COO, CIO, Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company, found a spot as her vision for the company and people created a new path for insurance companies. Fortune stated among the Chinese private sector it was the technology companies that were able to cushion the blow faced by China. “And none was better positioned to help than Ping An Group, an insurance giant whose “technology plus finance” strategy reflects the vision of co-CEO Jessica Tan…”

Justin Welby, 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, is positioned seventh on the list for supporting causes that are critical to society.  Fortune stated, “A former oil executive, Welby is now outspoken on climate change and has encouraged the Church’s investment arm to push major emitters on their climate policies. Though he’s one of Britain’s most high-profile institutional leaders, Welby has hit out at the British government on welfare reform and the implementation of Brexit.”

Stacey Abrams, American politician, lawyer, and voting rights activist, made suppression of votes a national conversation. According to Fortune, “Now Abrams may very well be one of the most powerful politicians without a political office. Don’t expect that to last long. Abrams, who was floated as a possible Biden running mate and also happens to be a novelist, is widely expected to run for governor again in 2022.”

Reshorna Fitzpatrick, founder and Pastor of Proceeding Word Church in Chicago, had been feeding the hunger in her Chicago neighbourhood for years. Fortune said, "There are those who fill stomachs. There are those who feed souls. Pastor Reshorna Fitzpatrick has been doing both for years, helping to soothe a long-simmering hunger in her Chicago neighbourhood with whatever sustenance she can provide. Three years ago, she helped start a community garden in a vacant lot near the North Lawndale church on the city’s West Side where she preaches every Sunday."

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Published May 14th, 2021 at 14:05 IST

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