Julie Sweet

Julie Sweet zoomed up the ranks from No. 23 to No. 11 on this year’s Most Powerful People list. The chair and CEO of Accenture, one of the largest companies in the world, with 770,000-plus employees, has positioned her company as a leader in generative AI, as companies are prioritizing—and needing Accenture’s help navigating—its integration. Sweet has been instrumental in Accenture’s recent inking of lucrative AI-focused projects with partners like Nvidia, Palantir, and the Australian telecom Telstra. As of the third quarter of its fiscal year 2025, Accenture had already reported $1.8 billion in AI-related revenue. However, it also reported slower growth in new bookings, which Sweet attributed to lower client spending amid economic uncertainty. Early this year, Sweet shared news of a breast cancer diagnosis in a short memo to her employees. She informed them that her cancer was curable and that she would continue to work through several weeks of radiation treatment. Read more: AI was supposed to kill consulting. Instead, Julie Sweet has positioned Accenture to cash in