Catherine MacGregor

Catherine MacGregor just won a second four-year term as CEO of this French utility. Born and raised in Morocco, she built her career at energy-equipment giants TechnipFMC and Schlumberger before joining Engie in 2021. Engie operates ­Europe’s largest natural gas network and is also a big player in renewable energy; the French government holds a 23.64% stake. Declining gas prices and an increase in electricity excise duties have made the energy market volatile, and Engie’s revenue decreased 10% last year, to €74 billion.

Championing the green-energy transition has been a hallmark of MacGregor’s leadership; she has called wind turbines “poetic.” ­Tariffs and policy changes could throw a wrench into Engie’s renewable-energy expansion in the U.S., however. MacGregor, who sits on Microsoft’s board, has been vocal about moving investment out of the U.S. if the climate doesn’t support Engie’s clean-energy holdings. Regardless of how that plays out, the company has numerous avenues of growth in Europe—among them its recent acquisition of a 157-megawatt portfolio of onshore wind and solar projects in the U.K.