Who were the best CEOs of 2023? AI helped executives like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella deliver huge investor returns

Who was the best CEO of 2023? Fortune used to publish an annual Businessperson of the Year list, but stopped in 2020—a year in which Elon Musk took top prize. That frees me to take my own stab this year, which I do here for your Friday enjoyment. 

I started, as we always do at Fortune, with a screener from data guru Scott DeCarlo, which looked at total returns over the last year and the last three years. Then I added a good dollop of my own judgment, based on my understanding of the role that the CEO and the company played in driving important economic events of the year. My top five:

1. Jensen Huang, Nvidia
2. Satya Nadella, Microsoft
3. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase
4. Lars Jorgensen, Novo Nordisk
5. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet

AI is obviously the big driver here, powering three of the five, and providing huge returns to investors. Nvidia offered a stunning 239% return for the year and 280% over three years; Microsoft returned 58% and 73%; and Alphabet returned 58% and 59%. I gave Nadella the edge over Pichai because he played the moment beautifully, partnering with OpenAI in a way his predecessors never would have, and rescuing Sam Altman from his board crisis. (I excluded Altman for failing Board Management 101.).

Dimon, of course, emerged from the banking crisis of 2023 as the world’s greatest banker—if he hadn’t already earned that title several times before. He is, without doubt, the GOAT. And Jorgensen rode the other world-changing development of 2023—Ozempic. By the way, Huang topped Fortune’s Business Person of the Year list in 2017—a year in which Dimon took the number two spot—and Nadella topped the list in 2019.  Those three have staying power.

Yale’s Jeff Sonnenfeld highlighted his three favorites in a piece for Fortune yesterday—CVS Health’s Karen Lynch, Intel’s Pat Gelsinger, and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. I am a big fan of all three. But while Benioff offered returns on a par with my top five last year, he had a more lackluster three years. And while Gelsinger and Lynch are both on admirable world-changing missions, they have a ways to go to show success.

A few sentimental favorites worth mentioning: ServiceNow CEO William McDermott has something going on that is getting plaudits from customers and employees alike, and also providing an 82% annual return to shareholders. Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen remains the sleeper in the tech crowd. And Occidental’s Vicki Hollub is my favorite among the oil majors, proving you can run a great oil company and care about the climate at the same time.

Who/what am I missing? Send me your thoughts, and I’ll share the best next week. Other news below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

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AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

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This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.