Allison Kirkby

Allison Kirkby took the helm of BT Group in February 2024 with a clear-eyed mandate: transform Britain’s largest telecommunications company from a sprawling legacy operator into a leaner, fiber- and 5G-led infrastructure business—and do it fast. That work is well underway: BT’s 5G+ network now covers 73% of the U.K. population, and its superfast Openreach broadband is expected to be in more than 25 million homes and businesses by the end of 2026. BT posted fiscal year 2026 pretax profit of roughly $1.9 billion, up 8%, on revenue of approximately $26.5 billion, down 3% amid declines in BT’s international business and stiff competition at home. Kirkby, one of the few women to lead a FTSE 100 company, is also in cost-cutting mode, with plans to reduce BT’s workforce from 130,000 in 2023 to about 75,000 by 2030. As of May, BT’s stock has more than doubled since she assumed the top job.