Alison Brittain

As head of retail banking at Lloyds Banking Group, Brittain was considered one of the most powerful women in British banking and was even seen as a potential CEO successor there. But in December 2015, she took over as CEO of Whitbread, the owner of Costa Coffee shops and budget hotel brand Premier Inn. Whitbread reported $4.4 billion in revenue last year, an increase of 4%. Now Brittain is under pressure to revive the success of the conglomerate’s crown jewel Costa, where same-store sales increased 3% (in local currency) last year, down from 6% the year prior. She says she will boost Costa sales some 50% by 2020, which she plans to do, in part, by adding more than 300 stores in China.