How America’s Top CEOs Tackled 2022’s Biggest Challenges

When an unprecedented heat wave struck California in September, demand for electricity hit an all-time high of 52,061 megawatts, prompting an emergency alert on the risk of outages and the need to conserve power. 

The month marked the longest and warmest for the state and other parts of the West, breaking more than 1,000 records in a span of a week.

Amid the disarray, one chief executive was busy delivering solar power to the state. Over eight days, Sunrun, a provider of battery storage and the country’s largest rooftop solar installer, cumulatively delivered more than 1 gigawatt-hour of energy back to California’s grid, helping prevent blackouts. 

“This year really put a spotlight on the value our systems can provide to customers, communities, and utilities, and we expect the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to turbocharge our efforts for many years to come,” said Mary Powell, Sunrun’s CEO. 

Powell is among the 44 CEOs who ranked No. 1 within their sector in Institutional Investor’s 2023 All-America Executive Team. She joined the company last year after 21 years with Green Mountain Power, a Vermont utility. 

“When I was approached by Sunrun to consider being CEO they had me at hello,” said Powell. “After more than a decade leading radical adoption of distributed energy resources from a utility grid perspective, and being recognized for how innovative and ‘fast’ we were, I had become worn down by how slow ‘fast’ is in the regulated utility world. I felt passionate that I must find a way to have a more direct impact on accelerating the customer-led revolution to a more affordable cleaner way to generate, use, and store energy.”

The 2023 polling was conducted throughout June and included the votes of more than 3,100 money managers and buy-side analysts and over 330 sell-side researchers. The participants nominated a total of 1,346 companies across 44 sectors. Rankings for CEOs were based on each executive’s leadership, credibility, and communication. 

On the macro level, the past year has been one of heightened uncertainty. Nearly every sector has been impacted by inflationary pressures, geopolitical conflicts, and supply chain distributions, and the financial services industry, for one, felt it immediately in the markets. 

“Business gets more difficult as people try to figure out where the economy is going,” said James Gorman, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, and the highest ranking CEO in the brokers, asset managers, and exchanges category. Gorman, who became CEO in 2010, has been steering the firm through the uncertainties partly by scaling down on its proprietary risk-taking businesses and building up diverse product offerings, including the integration of its two major acquisitions, E*Trade and Eaton Vance. 

“This is an environment where it behooves management to be prudent, but balanced,” said Gorman.

For AIG’s chief executive Peter Zaffino, who took the top spot in the insurance sector, the current environment warrants a thoroughly committed company culture. 

“Companies that successfully manage the workforce and the workplace environment of the future will have significant advantages,” Zaffino told Institutional Investor.  Having a clear purpose, shared values, alignment on strategic priorities, a committed culture, and creating a truly inclusive environment with training, development and career enhancement opportunities focused on where the world is going, not where it has been, are now table stakes. Tone at the top continues to be essential, but tone in the middle and throughout an organization, as well as delivering clear and consistent messages across an organization, is more important than ever.”

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James Gorman, Morgan Stanley

What was your biggest business challenge in 2022 and how did you overcome it? 

The combination of quantitative tightening, record high inflation, a land war in Europe, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain issues, among other things, have led to a period of change and uncertainty in the markets. Our business is to advise clients and be an intermediary of capital flows between those who have it and those who need it. Whether it’s IPOs, M&A, investment allocation — all of these events are slowed by uncertainty in the markets and in turn, we’re presented with fewer opportunities to provide advice and services to clients. Business gets more difficult as people try to figure out where the economy is going. While Morgan Stanley is and will continue to be directly impacted by these events, the diversified business we’ve built over the last decade has helped us navigate and perform through uncertainty. 

Our wealth management and asset management franchises offer a stable stream of fee income that is less susceptible to swings in confidence and sentiment.  The stability of these businesses allows our leadership to remain optimistic about the longer-term prospects for the holistic firm, with the understanding that opportunities in our more markets-oriented segments are delayed, not permanently lost. These opportunities will return as management and investors gain more clarity on the market and economic backdrop. 

Where do you see your sector headed in the next five years?

I’m an optimist in general and I feel very good about where our business is, and more broadly, the sector. My confidence is driven in part by our current capital standing and how well banks are capitalized in general. Thanks to the last 12 years of regulatory reform coming out of the financial crisis, banks will be able to drive economic growth over the coming years by utilizing healthy balance sheets to provide liquidity and lending in the market.  Separately, our business has committed to, and made strides, in becoming a more diverse and inclusive place to work. We’ve improved our diverse representation at all levels, particularly amongst leadership, and have set public representation objectives as an indication of our commitment to the mission. Others in the sector have made similar commitments and so I would expect both our business and sector to continue to grow more diverse over time. 

How do you define success – both personally and for your business?

At Morgan Stanley, the most exciting thing to me is how proud our employees and alumni are to be associated with our firm. We do a survey every year and if it was up to me, I’d only have one question on it: Are you proud to work at Morgan Stanley? This year, 92 percent of our employees said yes, about 6 percent were neutral, and a couple said no. That’s a very powerful thing and it has been the bedrock for our strategy and business growth over the past 10 years. We have built a global and diversified business consisting of a top-three global investment bank, a top global trading business, and manage over $5.3 trillion in assets across our wealth management and asset management businesses. I believe we’ve built a platform on which Morgan Stanley can continue to innovate and grow for years to come, and I’m excited to watch it play out.  

Personally, I define my own success by my ability to lay straight in bed at night. It’s knowing that in all of the things you do in a given week or year, you did the right thing by the people around you.

Are there any memorable anecdotes you could share from the past year? 

This year has been marked by re-opening in many ways. I have seen the resurgence of international travel; I have spent time in the UK, Europe, Asia, and many different American cities this year, and it has been terrific to reconnect with our employees and clients in person. We have also seen the return to in-person work and the cultural benefits of having the majority of our employees together, in the office. On the other side of the coin, we experienced a shift to a much more difficult economic and geopolitical environment. It is exciting to see our employees across businesses do what they do best — support their clients through challenging times and advise them on how to navigate less-than-ideal markets.

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Alfred Kelly Jr., Visa

How has your sector evolved over the past year?

Three key trends have really defined the evolution of digital payments over the last couple of years: accelerated cash digitization, expansion of digital money movement, and a much faster recovery in travel. Cash digitization has been occurring slowly and steadily for many years, but the pandemic accelerated this shift in ways that are enduring. Consumers adopted new buying behaviors and abandoned cash in record numbers, pulling forward several years of cash digitization. Beyond consumer payments, the globalization and digitization of commerce has expanded digital money movement use cases at a breakneck pace. The age of immediacy is here. Consumers and businesses expect to pay and be paid instantly, securely, and seamlessly — anywhere in the world and in any form. Finally, one of the big surprises of 2022 was the pace of travel recovery — particularly international travel — that hugely exceeded our expectations. As vaccines rolled out and borders opened around the world, consumers were ready to get out into the world again. Enormous pent-up demand has kept international travel strong and resilient, even as economic uncertainty has increased in recent months.  

What was your biggest business challenge in 2022 and how did you overcome it? 

Without a doubt, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February and its impact on our business and our people has been the biggest challenge of 2022. Our first priority was the health and safety of our employees — both in Ukraine and Russia. We helped evacuate employees and their families from Ukraine, rapidly deployed new payroll solutions to make sure they had access to funds, adjusted medical plans to ensure regional coverage, and guaranteed their jobs. We also guaranteed jobs to any Russian employee who was willing to leave Russia after it became clear that we would have to suspend our operations in the country. About 75 percent of our 200 employees there took the opportunity to move to another role at Visa and have been successfully placed in new jobs.  

Where do you see your sector headed in the next five years? 

The future of money is digital, and we believe the digital transformation of money will continue to expand globally in the next five years. Beyond continued consumer payments growth, I believe our sector will continue to look at ways to move money safely and securely in the form of remittances and large direct money transfers, with governments and global businesses playing a vital role. And as more digital-first companies look to compete with the scale of their more seasoned competitors, our sector will help level the playing field by enabling both traditional clients and new partners to deliver secure, reliable, and convenient payments experiences for their customers, truly harnessing the full power of accelerated digitization. For Visa specifically, we will continue to build new partnerships, invest in new technology and security, and create new payment experiences for the wider ecosystem. And in the years ahead, we will continue to drive the digital transformation — to grow our ecosystem, give more people access to the digital financial system, and continue to drive returns for shareholders.  

How do you define success — both personally and for your business? 

Success is about impact. As CEO, impact is enabled by great talent and aided by clarity of purpose and strategy. A few key ingredients to driving this impact stand out to me: building a strong team and creating an excellent culture; living our purpose in everything we do; defining a clear road map for success; being extremely client-focused; communicating continually and promoting broad curiosity; and driving a clear focus on leadership excellence.  

As an individual, success is about impact as well. The impact that I measure myself against personally centers around helping others flourish, coaching colleagues to assist in their advancement, being there in tough times, and uplifting people in need. 

Are there any memorable anecdotes you could share from the past year? 

Two things come to mind. I made a trip to Poland and Hungary in early March to personally witness the strength of our Ukrainian colleagues who migrated out of Kyiv — people who left their homes, carried what they could, and in many cases left behind their husbands, brothers or fathers who were not allowed to leave. It put life in perspective. Talking to employees about the importance of getting back to the office. I believe 100 percent that we are simply better together, and I’m on a mission to convince our employees. It will be a new norm, with the majority of our colleagues working a hybrid schedule that must be at least 50 percent of the time in the office. My conviction on this point has only grown as I’ve travelled around the world in the last few months visiting with colleagues, hearing how much we all missed being with each other, innovating together, serving clients together, brainstorming together, and having fun together.

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Mary Powell, Sunrun 

How has your sector evolved over the past year? 

For over a decade I have described the work of creating a cleaner, more affordable, independent, and innovative energy experience for customers as being the work of “accelerating a customer-led revolution.” There have been solid signs over the last couple of years that we are achieving that tipping point and that customers are more actively pursuing the adoption of solar, storage, and electric vehicles. With utility rates, and energy prices rising rapidly, we are essentially also selling customers peace of mind. Peace of mind that when the power goes out, they will be okay, peace of mind that when rates rapidly rise they know they have a more economically sustainable way to generate and use energy. Not only have we as a business continued to deliver strong growth and new product innovation, but we’re seeing a transformational shift led by our amazing customers. 

What was your biggest business challenge in 2022 and how did you overcome it?

2022 has been a fascinating year of incredibly strong demand for our products while also dealing with an historic rise in interest rates. In addition, 2022 continued to present supply chain challenges as well as inflationary pressures. Going into 2022, I spoke a lot about Sunrun becoming faster, better and stronger, and the year allowed us a lot of opportunities to demonstrate that we did, and to flex those muscles. As we focused on crushing in on the fundamentals of financial strength, customer obsession and innovation, I am proud of the quick and decisive action the team took to not just respond, but to leverage the challenges as an opportunity to emerge stronger. We also focused on deploying the best of technology innovation to customers developing our Ford partnership on the F150 bidirectional charger, rolling out our own EV charger and rolling out three new virtual power plant projects, the most recent of which in Puerto Rico. As the nation’s residential clean energy leader, we’re in an optimal position to meet the demand as we’ve built a robust network of suppliers and partnerships with the most innovative energy companies.

Where do you see your sector headed in the next five years?

I truly believe the customer and the home will be the driver of energy innovation and electrification and will provide the ability for the grid itself to transform to a more effective solution for society.  Five years from now the average home energy profile will look so different as customers adopt electric vehicles, heat pumps, induction stoves and more. These technologies will ultimately increase energy usage at the home, which will drive even greater rooftop solar adoption and allow us to aggregate smart energy loads to be used most effectively by the grid. We’re seeing customers educate themselves on the efficiency and cost-saving benefits of solar energy and starting to make the switch proactively. Even if they don’t have an EV or other new tech today, they’re starting to prepare their homes for tomorrow. We do a great job at helping them think through all the pieces when it comes to solar, batteries, vehicle charging and overall energy management.

Over the next five years, I absolutely see solar, batteries, bidirectional vehicle charging and so much more being brought to our customers through us because they trust us. All of this leads to what really excites me: radical collaboration with utilities and grid operators. As we install these clean energy devices at individual homes, we can provide critical grid services by aggregating stored clean energy and sharing it to stabilize local energy systems during times of peak demand, lowering the cost of the grid for all consumers. 

How do you define success — both personally and for your business?

I define success as having a positive impact on the people I work with, the people I serve and in leaving the world in a better place. I’ve always said that my love of this planet and people are my North Star. That guide has kept me laser focused on one thing: building the most sustainable, best-run clean energy technology company. We’ve been tackling that challenge methodically, and you can see it in how we’re becoming a better, faster, stronger organization for our customers and our people. Since Sunrun acquired its largest competitor two years ago, the business has faced some growing pains, but through it all, our amazing, talented team has handled the adversity head on. If our people hop out of bed each morning eager to do this incredibly important work, and if our customers rave about their experience and refer their closest friends and family, I know we’re on the right path to true, lasting success.

Are there any memorable anecdotes you could share from the past year?

I’m a ‘boots on the ground’ type of leader, so I have amassed many memorable conversations and heart connections with employees and customers around the country. I try to visit as many branch locations, team members and customers as possible. Hearing stories and experiences directly from our frontline employees and customers energizes me. As I spend more time with our Sunrun team, a common theme has emerged: we’re in the business of providing peace of mind and a sense of security. We offer something that utilities just aren't built to, which is comfort, resilience, and energy independence. Customers want that, and our people love delivering it. It’s a beautiful thing  to have the opportunity to work in a field that delivers such meaningful impact to families and the planet for future generations.

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Kevin Sayer, Dexcom

How has your sector evolved over the past year?

During a period of much uncertainty in the overall economy, our sector continues to grow at an accelerated pace. Continuous glucose monitoring (“CGM”) is a tool that provides solutions to very serious problems related to diabetes management. We are truly witnessing this technology evolve into the standard of care around the world. As the sector has grown, we have been very successful in our efforts to make the technology available to many more people globally. It is very exciting.

What was your biggest business challenge in 2022 and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge for Dexcom in 2022 has been one of scale. Access to CGM is expanding worldwide, with more and more people able to benefit from this incredible technology. So, more than ever, it’s our responsibility to continue to expand CGM awareness among patients and clinicians, drive adoption, and manufacture at scale so we can get Dexcom CGM into the hands of as many people as possible. Meeting this demand has been one of our biggest priorities over the last few years. Our teams have embraced flexibility and our people have truly risen to the occasion.

Where do you see your sector headed in the next five years?

I believe that we are just at the beginning of the evolution of continuous monitoring — and ultimately not just for glucose. Recently, CMS proposed an expansion of access to include CGM for all people on insulin and others with diabetes who experience low glucose values but are not on insulin. We believe that is only the beginning and that CGM will advance to being the standard measure for all diabetes-related health. There is so much information that someone with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes can learn by receiving 24/7 glucose feedback on the effects of diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and many other factors. Additionally, we can make this information available to share with other platforms that can also help improve health. Our continuous glucose monitors can migrate to the hospital to improve care, be utilized by women to ensure healthy pregnancies with gestational diabetes — our goals and aspirations are enormous. The follow up question is simple — what else can we measure that will have significant impact to the health of our society? In the next five years, we expect to have some great answers.

How do you define success — both personally and for your business?

I was once asked by one of our commercial leaders to describe Dexcom’s culture in one word. I used two — high expectations. As a team, we set very high expectations for our business and success comes when we meet or beat them. But sometimes success also comes when we fail — because that is often how we learn. If we meet our commitments to our customers, shareholders and employees, we are succeeding. When I came to the company full time in 2011, CGM was extremely early in its development. Dexcom has literally created an industry. For me, success has been the continuous innovation of navigating this journey across all fronts — technology, reimbursement, customer experience, and service. It has been an amazing challenge. Nearly every major innovation that has happened in the CGM sector, such as mobile phone compatibility and remote monitoring for friends and family, has been driven by Dexcom.

Are there any memorable anecdotes you could share from the past year?

For me the biggest thing I have noted in 2022 is how far our reach as a company has grown. I very seldom go somewhere, for business or casually, where I don’t run in to someone whose life has been positively impacted by Dexcom. How many CEOs meet people in the airport who want selfies with you because your product is so important to them and their families? I recently connected with a former work associate who I hadn’t seen for more than 20 years, only learn that one of his immediate family members is a “Dexcom Warrior.” It reminds me every day that our responsibilities extend far beyond just being a business.

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Peter Zaffino, AIG

How has your sector evolved over the past year?

2022 was an incredibly challenging year for the Insurance sector and financial services more broadly, with many dynamics simultaneously creating an increasing amount of complexity and uncertainty. This year will be the fifth out of the last six years with insured losses from natural catastrophes exceeding $100 billion, with hurricanes, wildfires, and floods being more prevalent than any time in history. In addition to Hurricane Ian, the second largest natural catastrophe in U.S. history, the war in Ukraine is another tragic event that has created complexity across the world and one that will have a significant impact on certain segments in the insurance sector for years to come. For instance, direct insured losses, such as in the aviation market, and more broadly the knock-on effects of the macro-economic environment, supply-chain issues, rising energy costs, inflation, and increased interest rates, to name a few, will continue to dramatically change the industry.

What was your biggest business challenge in 2022 and how did you overcome it?

AIG entered 2022 in a strong financial position and with a lot of momentum, as we continued to execute on one of the most significant turnarounds and transformations in the insurance sector. Our already complex environment was exacerbated as external factors became increasingly volatile and uncertain: an ongoing global pandemic, a war in Ukraine, geopolitical and social unrest across the globe, inflationary pressures, fear of a recession, and another year of record natural catastrophes. Our incredibly talented team worked quickly to assess the new complexity and remained aligned, focused, and committed to our strategic priorities. In fact, we compressed our most critical work plans and recognized that to continue to reposition AIG for the long-term, we needed to move faster and achieve improvement across all aspects of AIG. In the face of extraordinary circumstances, I am incredibly proud of how our colleagues continued to perform at the highest level and delivered high-quality outcomes for our clients, shareholders, colleagues, and other stakeholders.

Where do you see your sector headed in the next five years?

The changing face of risk that emerged in 2022 has set the stage for the next five years, when the pace of change will accelerate. Increased geopolitical uncertainty and tensions; terrorism risk; ever growing and more complex cyber risk; macro-economic uncertainty; inflation; energy and food insecurity; population and demographic changes; rapidly evolving technology and digitization; and climate change will all continue to shape the many challenges and opportunities in front of us and highlight the important role that insurance plays in risk identification, mitigation advice and offering risk solutions — not only in the private sector but also in the public sector. Insurance companies, policy makers, government leaders must all work together to close the protection gap that exists due to increasingly complex and emerging risks, a much more interconnected world, and insufficient capital in the marketplace.

How do you define success — both personally and for your business?

Throughout my career, I have defined success by the willingness and ability of my team to work with me and each other to tackle the most complicated problems — taking no short cuts — and always delivering high-quality outcomes and regular interactions with our stakeholders. Playing the long game is critical in creating sustainable value for our colleagues, clients, shareholders, and other stakeholders.

Are there any memorable anecdotes you could share from the past year?

One of my favorite moments of 2022 was hosting the 2022 AIG Women’s Open in Scotland with our partners at The R&A. It was the first women’s major championship ever to be hosted at Muirfield, with the earliest written records of the golf club dating back to 1744. At AIG, we believe allies are critical to anyone’s success and our sponsorship of the AIG Women’s Open is one example of how we strive to be allies to women in business, golf, and society more broadly. Walking the grounds of Muirfield, after two years of limited participation due to the pandemic, and watching the elite women athletes compete at this historic venue, was thrilling. The 2022 AIG Women’s Open showcased the meaningful positive progress that can be made with real and authentic commitment to allyship and elevating awareness of important issues, like gender equity and gender pay equity.