An original dataset of 315 immigrant-born chief executives at America's largest publicly traded corporations — who they are, where they come from, and how their presence has grown.
Share of immigrant-born CEOs at major US corporations, 2000 to 2021
How do immigrant-born CEOs compare to their native-born peers? Key demographics and firm characteristics, 2000–2021.
| Immigrant | Native | |
|---|---|---|
| Average age at appointment | 52 | 54 |
| Female share | 2.9% | 4.4% |
| Bachelor's degree outside the US | 20% | 3% |
| Mean firm revenue | $13.5B | $17.0B |
| Mean firm employees | 34,600 | 46,700 |
| Countries represented (2021) | 33 | — |
Source: BoardEx (CEO demographics) & Compustat (firm financials). Sample: 2,030 CEOs at 752 publicly traded firms, 2000–2021. Revenue and employees are firm-year averages.
44 countries have produced CEOs who lead major American corporations. Canada and the United Kingdom dominate, but representation spans every continent.
Immigrant CEOs are concentrated in mining, energy, and pharma — and increasingly in tech and finance.
Click any bar to see the CEOs in that industry
From Sundar Pichai at Alphabet to Albert Bourla at Pfizer — scroll to explore the most prominent immigrant CEOs, ranked by company revenue.
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Search, filter, and sort all 315 immigrant CEOs.
| Name ▲ | Company ▲ | Country ▲ | Origin ▲ | Years ▲ |
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This website is part of an ongoing academic research project studying the role and impact of immigrant-born CEOs at America's largest publicly traded corporations. Using an original dataset spanning over two decades, we document who these leaders are, where they come from, and how their presence in the C-suite has evolved.
Our research examines the career dynamics of immigrant executives — including how they are evaluated by boards and financial markets relative to native-born peers. A full academic paper is in preparation.
2,030 CEOs at 752 firms, 2000–2021. 315 immigrant-born CEOs (15.5%) from 44 countries.