Forbes Middle East Magazine recently released the thirteenth edition of the Top 100 executives list “Global Meets Local” in the Middle East region report for the year 2025. The magazine screened companies appearing on this year’s Forbes Global 2000 list then selected those with significant operations in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) before proceeding to selecting the top executives at the said companies. The magazine commented that the ranking of the executives was based on the following criteria:

• The impact that the executive has had on the region and the markets the company he represents serves;
• The achievements and performance of the executive over the last year;
• The number and extensiveness of the sustainability and CSR initiatives;
• Their designation and the geographical area that they oversee;
• The size of the business;
• The number of years of industry experience and the time the executive served in his current role; and
• The rank of the executive’s organization on the Forbes Global 2000 list

The report revealed that India was the most decorated country on Forbes’ Global 2000 list with 13 executives, followed by the United Kingdom (10 executives) and Lebanon which ranked first amongst its Arab peers with 9 executives bearing in mind that a total of 42 nationalities appeared on the list. From a sectoral perspective, the technology sector was the most represented with 23 companies, followed by the automotive sector (8 companies) and the food and drink sector (7 companies). The majority (~57%) of the companies that employed the top 100 executives are based in the United States, with the rest being spread over 15 countries.

Mr. Ronaldo Mouchawar (American), Vice President – Middle East, Africa and Turkiye at Amazon topped Forbes’ list, followed by Mr. Khaled Hoballah (British) Senior Country Officer – MENA at J.P. Morgan and Mr. Andrew Torre (American) President – Value Added Services at Visa.

Lebanese appearances on the list included Mr. Yaser Abdul Malak (Chairman and CEO at Nestlé Middle East, ranked 6^th), Mr. Thierry Sabbagh (Nissan, 34^th), Mrs. Olfat Berro (Roche, 62^nd), Mrs. Elda Choucair (Omnicom, 73^rd), Mr. Nadim Najjar (London Stock Exchange Group, 74^th), Mr. Ahmad Nasser (The Hershey Company, 81^st), Mr. Ronald Boueiri (Olympus META, 85^th), Mr. Joe Naoum (Stryker, 90^th) and Mr. Rawad Sarieddine (CrowdStrike, 95^th). The following table sheds light on the functions occupied by mentioned executives in their respective companies: