Carolyn McCall

Under McCall’s charge, the budget airline beat its earnings target yet again in 2014, with profits of $957 million, up 28%, and the stock price up 11% even as competitors battled losses in a tough business environment. The former publishing executive has emphasized innovation, rewarding investors with a 277% increase in market capitalization in the five years she has piloted the carrier. McCall plans to use drones at the airline’s engineering bases across Europe and is also in exploratory discussions with 3D printing firms to see how they can be used to help manufacture aircraft parts. Prime Minister David Cameron nominated McCall, a non-executive director of Burberry, to his new Business Advisory Group in July. —Rupali Arora