The ranking featured executives from Forbes’ “303 Business Captains” (2024) directory of companies that generated at least UAH 1 billion in revenue in 2024 — no less than in 2022 — and employ a workforce of at least 1,000 people. Eligible top managers cannot own 25% or more of the business and must have assumed their leadership role no later than 1 July 2023.
Together with a panel of leading HR experts and executive search and management consultants, the publication carried out a comprehensive assessment of CEOs — from their leadership qualities performance of their companies. Based on the results, it identified 25 leaders with the highest scores, with the threshold for inclusion set at 76 out of 100 points.
The overall score consisted of two components: an expert assessment — covering professionalism, leadership and crisis management; and an analytical block, which measured how companies recovered after the shock of the full-scale war, including revenue dynamics and net margin compared with 2022.
Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov ranked 17th on the list.
According to Forbes, the 49-year-old Ryzhenkov dreams of celebrating victory with his team in Kyiv and then returning home — to Donetsk. “Metallurgy has been part of my life since childhood,” he told Forbes in 2020. “My grandfather was a miner, my father a steelmaker and my mother worked in rolling.” In the mid-1990s, he studied business management at King’s College London.
Metinvest lost two steel plants in Mariupol, the plant in Avdiivka and suspended operations at Pokrovske Coal because of its proximity to the front line. Despite this, the Group has repaid US$670 million in debt since early 2022. Its net loss in 2024 increased sixfold, reaching US$1.15 billion, while revenue grew by 9% to US$8 billion.
The Group produces armour steel, Lancet interceptor systems, bunkers, command posts and more for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Among Metinvest’s wartime achievements, Ryzhenkov highlights the reorientation of exports towards Europe, the servicing of debt obligations and maintaining the operational viability of the business.
Other executives included in the ranking of Ukraine’s top CEOs are the leaders of Aurora, McDonald’s, Ascania, Ukrposhta, ANC, IDS, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, DTEK Group, Comfy, Vodafone, Continental Farmers Group and others.
One of the 25 CEOs leads a state-owned enterprise, while the remaining 24 head private companies with Ukrainian or foreign capital. The list of top CEOs includes three women. The average age of a wartime business leader is 48.