Top 20 European Women Leaders 2025

Goal-oriented leadership involves setting clear and specific goals where possible, based on established experience, and which are purposeful and achievable. A goal-oriented leader is grounded in knowledge and a realistic outlook, being aware of the organization’s context, such as the traditions on which it is based, and the risks being taken.

Clare Ducksbury is an inspirational leader, an advanced thought-leader in the mass claims/class actions space, and most importantly, a pioneering leader who strives to educate her team to progress collective action knowledge and expertise within their respective disciplines. Clare is a people person with a particular focus on ensuring the core values of Case Pilots are reflected in everything her team does.

Deniz Bruce is no ordinary leader. Her professional background is enriched with extensive experience in various pharmaceutical and medical device organisations, where she has held global leadership positions overseeing diverse product portfolios. Her expertise centres on strategic planning and execution within medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biologics. Throughout her career, Deniz has consistently demonstrated her ability to meet ambitious targets, excel in change management, and possess the essential skills to propel organisational strategies forward.

Helen Fisher is a business psychologist who specialises in helping organisations become more effective through their people. Described as logical and analytical, an ingenious thinker and long-range planner, and good at anything that requires rapid reasoning, Helen is direct, results-oriented and thorough. She is passionate about researching new subjects that capture her interest.

Leadership with a sense of responsibility is a valuable trait. It is often associated with individuals who are accountable, reliable, and committed to their roles and the people they lead. Such leaders prioritize the well-being of their team members and strive to create a positive work environment that fosters growth, collaboration, and innovation. What motivated Ioanna Fergadiotou, Head of Athens Lab, Inlecom, to become a pioneering leader was a sense of responsibility to positively impact her country during the recession by creating new job opportunities and combating brain drain.

Jivka Ovtcharova, head of the Institute for Information Management in Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), learned to take on a leadership role as a child. She had the advantage that her parents, who worked, gave Jivka the freedom to shape herself professionally and personally and decide which path she wanted to take. “The inner conviction to go one’s own way and the knowledge of what one must do for it made me naturally self-confident and strong,” says Jivka. “Whether in school or later in my professional life, I always took an active position; I wanted to push instead of being pooled.

Being open and transparent is an essential and intrinsic part of Kathryn Mason, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Rice Search Partners’, leadership style. This has resulted in an ongoing focus on diversity and inclusion within the company. In 2013 Rice Search Partners was predominately white, male, and privately educated.

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson has found that a “psychologically safe work environment” – an environment in which teams feel free “to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, [ask] questions, and to admit mistakes… without fear of negative consequences” – promotes team engagement and motivation.

A Chartered Accountant by profession and having worked close to two decades in the Finance sector, Manjula Basant Rai, Founder, and CEO of Spaanda, always felt something was missing and sometimes questioned the purpose of her journey. While at Tesco, she stumbled across sustainability by chance, and that was her light bulb moment. In a flash, she knew what she could do and what she had to do. “Spaanda was born in my thoughts and over time I gave it shape and form in my own head. I had a vision of what I wanted to offer and where we could add value to businesses and corporates. I launched Spaanda in August 2020, right in the middle of Covid but I knew deep down we had a solid proposition that would thrive in a world that was gearing up to face the challenges of climate change,” she explains. “When I was working in the corporate world I realised that navigating climate change and performing risk assessments could be tricky. Spaanda was born to address this gap.”

Miranda Mapleton started White Swan in 2016—a registered charity with a mission to improve the health of society using technology and analytics, to accelerate diagnosis and improve the effectiveness of treatment. Miranda’s vision, drive, and ability to engage others and create clarity from ambiguity have been key to becoming the global organization it is today, powered by over 130 volunteers in addition to its employees, Trustees, and Clinical Advisory Board.

Born in the vibrant city of Delhi, India, Pallavi Chhibber was in awe of the beautiful colors and cultures she was surrounded with throughout her growing years. She was born with artistic creativity; from decorating houses during festivals to organizing theme parties for friends, she has been doing things in her unique creative ways.

A strong sense of belonging and a deep love for her country led Paola Federico to incorporate Event Planet in Italy. She knew the difficulties she had to face when establishing a business, yet she surged ahead with her determination and started the company from scratch.

Sasha Jensen is the founder and CEO of Jensen Partners, a leading global executive search firm, and Jensen DiversityMetrics™, the enterprise software solution for workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion. As the woman at the helm of both organizations, Sasha is a leading expert on talent markets for capital raising and investment professionals across the alternative investment industry. Jensen Partners’ team of recruitment specialists and data scientists produce the industry’s most comprehensive human capital data and leverage that data to recruit candidates, track workforce trends and accelerate DEI progress industrywide.

Trudy Darwin’s first corporate job after graduating from University in the late ’90s was with what the industry labeled a dot.com, where she worked on the marketing side of web development for eCommerce companies, moving to web-based sales and digital brand awareness. From this, she moved quickly up the proverbial ladder to become Director of Marketing and Sales for global U.S. businesses in industries such as; Telecom, Technology, Training, and Publishing. During this time, she received ongoing training in sales management and leadership styles.