Ruth Porat

When Porat was told her nickname at Google is “Ruth Vader”—thanks to her relentless focus on the bottom line—her response was, “That’s fantastic!” Wall Street thinks so too: Since she became CFO in May 2015, shares have jumped more than 70%; it’s currently the world’s second-most-­valuable company after Apple. And while the Morgan Stanley vet’s discipline is seen as a major reason behind the end of some of its moonshot projects, she insists she is more focused on investment than cost cutting.

For more on Porat, read our 2016 feature “The Wall Street Veteran Who’s Helping Google Get Disciplined.”