Helena Helmersson

Helmersson has spent all of her career at H&M, but even so, the retailer hailed her rise to CEO in 2020 as groundbreaking. She’s H&M’s first woman chief exec, plus the first from outside the controlling Persson family. As its onetime chief sustainability officer, she’s also the first to focus on fast fashion’s dire environmental record, saying she wants to make production recyclable and circular by 2030. Some critics fear the lofty goals are greenwashing moves.