world's 25 greatest leaders: heroes of the pandemic

Fortune Editors

No disease in living memory has posed as great a threat to global health and livelihoods as the novel coronavirus. But since its earliest days, the battle against SARS-CoV-2 has also spurred countless people to tremendous acts of resourcefulness, courage, and compassion. We’re devoting our seventh annual leaders’ list to those who have rallied the world behind them in this decisive moment, including inspirational figures from the medical community—some of whom led by example even at the cost of their lives.

If the pandemic has a face, it’s the mask-clad visage of Dr. Li. After becoming one of the first to sound the alarm about a new virus emerging in his city, Li was detained by local Chinese authorities and forced to recant his warning. Within days of his release, the 34-year-old doctor returned to treating patients, only to become infected by the all-too-real disease, and then, on Feb. 7, to succumb to it. Dr. Li’s bravery—both in the face of the coronavirus and the state—inspired China and ultimately the world. (In April, the Chinese government honored Li as a “martyr.”) Dr. Li’s final post on social media site Weibo has become a living memorial, where users flock to post messages and celebrate his life. This digital Wailing Wall, as some have called it, has more than 850,000 posts and stands in rebuke to anyone who does not believe that the voice of one can be the difference between the life or death of thousands.

Li Wenliang

Gregoire, a former Washington governor, brought hard-hit Seattle’s business community together early in the city’s outbreak. She insisted on a science-based response, and the group, which includes some of the world’s most competitive corporate rivals, followed her lead—acting early, aggressively, and in unison—to help slow the virus’s spread.

Chris Gregoire

A strong advocate of U.S.-Chinese cooperation during his time running Alibaba, Ma cut through geopolitical tensions to donate thousands of testing kits and a million face masks to the CDC, while facilitating the shipment of 1,000 ventilators to New York State. He has also been quick to help other undersupplied nations, particularly in Latin America and Africa. As of mid-April, Ma had donated nearly 18 million masks, 3 million test kits, and thousands of ventilators—reaching over 100 countries.

Jack Ma

From Washington’s Inslee, who had to invent the playbook for fighting the disease on U.S. soil when his state was the first hit, to Whitmer, who refused to back down when attacked by President Trump over her demand that the federal government step up to help, to DeWine, who has held the line on his stay-at-home order, despite pressure from protesters and his own party, seeing U.S. governors rise to the moment has been a bright light in a bleak time.

The Governors

In 36 years as director of NIAID, Fauci has guided the U.S. response to outbreaks from AIDS to Zika. After mixed signals and inaction initially handicapped the federal reaction to the coronavirus, Fauci emerged as the administration’s most trusted authority figure. He has assuaged the public by speaking plainly, frequently, and honestly in briefings. And his candor about mistakes—“It’s a failing, let’s admit it,” he told Congress of the government’s testing efforts—has helped prompt the White House to course-correct.

Anthony Fauci

Bedard, who cares for the oldest and sickest in New York City’s correctional system, has refused to allow the risk to her incarcerated patients to be overlooked. She’s used Twitter to call for a mass release of detainees, reminding anyone who will listen that jail is “a perfect setup” for a deadly outbreak.

Rachael Bedard

The chef and restaurateur has thrown himself into nourishing those affected by the crisis, forklifting food onto quarantined cruise ships and serving nearly 100,000 meals a day to health care workers and others in hotspots—all while providing much-needed jobs for restaurant employees. Andrés’s latest feat: turning the Washington Nationals’ baseball stadium into a massive  community kitchen to serve D.C. residents.

José Andrés

Regeneron and Yancopoulos are racing to fight COVID-19 on two fronts. The company’s rheumatoid arthritis drug sped into clinical trials in March after evidence emerged from China that it may help the most severely ill patients. Since January, Yancopoulos’s team has also been developing an antibody cocktail—the same approach that helped Regeneron deliver an Ebola drug last year—to treat the disease and serve as a prophylaxis for medical workers.

George Yancopoulos

GM was the first big American automaker to commit its idle assembly lines to the fight against COVID-19. Barra stood fast in the face of criticism from the President and reaped the benefits: On April 8, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded [hotlink]GM[/hotlink] a $489 million contract to deliver 30,000 ventilators by the end of August.

Mary Barra

Five years ago, with spooky precision, Gates warned us we’d be where we are now if we didn’t prepare for a pandemic. (We didn’t prepare.) Luckily, Gates did—putting his money in 2017 behind CEPI, an organization that has already ushered eight COVID-19 vaccine candidates into development. In February, Gates deployed funding to ready critical public health infrastructure in Africa and South Asia for the virus’s onslaught.

Bill Gates

As the federal government dragged its feet, America’s mayors—particularly those leading our biggest and therefore most vulnerable cities—sprang into action to protect their citizens. In Seattle, the earliest U.S. hotspot, Jenny Durkan established the country’s first drive-up testing site for first responders, created a $5 million grocery voucher program, and shared her city’s hard-won lessons with her fellow mayors. Durkan’s counterparts in the Bay Area—including San Francisco’s London Breed and Oakland’s Libby Schaaf—seem to have heeded her warnings. The region was the first in the nation to issue shelter-in- place orders, a farsighted step that likely saved thousands of lives. In Chicago, Lori Lightfoot showed that urban leadership extends beyond the West Coast, closing the city’s parks to enforce social distancing—and playing into the loving memes that sprang up depicting her as a stern quarantine enforcer. “Your jump shot is always gonna be weak,” quipped Lightfoot. “Stay out of the parks.”

The Mayors

Singapore was one of the first countries outside China to confirm a coronavirus case; nearly three months on, its COVID-19-related deaths remained in the single digits. Leo’s center developed a test before the city-state confirmed its first case. It now has one of the highest per capita testing rates in the world. Swift border controls, methodical contact tracing, and transparent communication with the public also serve as how-tos for other virus hotspots.

Lee Hsien Loong & Leo Yee-Sin

Morris’s organization matches big buyers—like [hotlink]Target[/hotlink] and Mastercard—with a global network of nontraditional manufacturers, mostly women-owned and based in vulnerable communities. In March, dozens of TTM makers retooled their operations to produce masks, gowns, and scrubs. Barely 30 days later, the personal protective equipment (PPE) began rolling in. Morris has orders for over 1.2 million units in the U.S. and hopes to eventually distribute in Kenya, Ghana, and India too.

Jane Mosbacher Morris

Testing resources for COVID-19 have been particularly scarce in Africa, where a couple of months ago the continent had just two labs—one of which is Sall’s institute—that could do the job. The virologist has been focused on spreading that capacity and creating a more practical way to test. Working with U.K.-based diagnostic company Mologic, Sall’s team is developing a point-of-care device that will offer results in 10 minutes. Tests will cost less than $1 and be manufactured in Senegal.

Amadou Sall

One of the countless health care professionals putting their lives on the line—and too often losing them—Kelly is believed to be the first New York City nurse to have died from the virus. His death spurred colleagues to defy orders and speak out about the dangerous PPE shortages at city hospitals, motivating policymakers and philanthropists to step up to help.

Kious Kelly

Rihanna’s nonprofit pledged $5 million to address the needs of families impacted by the pandemic, making her one of the first celebrities to throw their financial weight into the crisis. So far, her commitments include $2 million partnerships with Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation and Jack Dorsey, and an effort to get tests and supplies to ICUs in Haiti and Malawi.

Rihanna

In early March, the U.K. was pursuing a coronavirus strategy that accepted an almost unchecked infection rate in a bid to create widespread immunity. Modeling provided by epidemiologist Ferguson and his team helped change the government’s mind. Without a lockdown, the scientists warned, over 500,000 people could die in the U.K. The White House also took note of the model, which predicted a U.S. death toll as high as 2.2 million, and stepped up isolation rules.

Neil Ferguson

Facing a severe shortage of medical staff, Rouhani continued to treat patients even after she herself was infected by COVID-19. After her death, many Iranians used Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms to share a photo of the doctor hard at work while hooked to an IV drip, praising her persistence and bravery in the face of Iran’s massive outbreak. Rouhani's story and the photo above went viral with the hashtag #ripshirinrouhani.
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Shirin Rouhani

Wang was among the first corporate leaders to implement a major pivot to meet virus-driven demand. In late January, when the COVID-19 crisis was accelerating in China, Wang created a task force to design and build new production lines to manufacture face masks and hand sanitizer—goods now in demand worldwide. Today, the Shenzhen-based electric-vehicle maker claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer of surgical masks, churning out 5 million a day.

Wang Chuanfu

Hardly a lame duck, Germany’s outgoing chancellor has won global praise for her calm, immediate, and effective response to the pandemic. Merkel, a trained scientist, imposed strict social distancing measures and modeled them herself, self-quarantining after her doctor tested positive for COVID-19. Those policies and Germany’s early, widespread testing have helped keep its death toll far lower than that of many of its European neighbors.

Angela Merkel

Grocers have emerged as vital lifelines for panicked populations, even as their staff became “essential” frontline workers at risk of exposure. European chains like Waitrose were pioneers in setting up special shopping hours and delivery for the vulnerable and elderly. In North America, Texas-based H-E-B and Canada’s Sobeys increased workers’ pay and medical leave—acts that helped nudge giants [hotlink]Target[/hotlink] and [hotlink]Walmart[/hotlink] to follow suit.

The Grocers

Closing out his term in the midst of the crisis—his party lost in February’s election—Varadkar has tackled the situation with aplomb, canceling Saint Patrick’s Day festivities and closing schools, pubs, and other establishments without hesitation. But what has really impressed is his willingness to put himself on the front lines: A doctor by training, Varadkar is now working half a day per week assessing patients for the virus.

Leo Varadkar

As the virus pummeled Italy, Fracassi and Romaioli heard a hospital in Brescia was short on essential valves for its ventilators. The pair visited the hospital and studied the valves, which needed to be replaced after each use. They tinkered with prototypes on Isinnova’s 3D printers until they figured out how to create the parts—and then provided them to the hospital for free. Fracassi told local media: “There were people with their lives in danger, and we acted. Period.”

Cristian Fracassi & Alessandro Romaioli

As the coronavirus spread quickly through his aircraft carrier, Crozier urged his superior to help him evacuate stricken crew—and then wrote a plea to other brass after relief was slow in coming. When the letter was leaked to the press, it prompted Crozier’s removal—but not before drawing the nation’s attention to the threat posed to our troops, a reality driven home on April 13 when a sailor from the ship died from the virus.

Brett Crozier

Dorsey seized the pandemic moment to make his first major foray into philanthropy, announcing that he would devote $1 billion of his equity in payment startup Square—or about 28% of his wealth—to a COVID-19 relief fund. He’s disbursing the money transparently, going so far as to tweet out a public [hotlink]Google[/hotlink] spreadsheet tracking the process. About $5.2 million had been doled out as of mid-April; one of the first recipients was the joint $4.2 million grant he and Rihanna (No. 16) set up to benefit victims of domestic violence affected by L.A.’s stay-at-home order. Dorsey is also thinking beyond the epidemic, earmarking any leftover money to support girls’ education and universal basic income, which he calls “the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world.”

Jack Dorsey

We’re devoting our seventh annual leaders’ list to those who have rallied the world against the coronavirus—including medical workers on the front lines.

World's 25 Greatest Leaders: Heroes of the pandemic