Risk Takers: They made big bets in 2021 - CNN

10 leaders. 10 big bets. All designed to push global business forward.

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  • Jennifer Bates at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) office in Birmingham, Alabama on March 26, 2021.
    Warehouse worker, Amazon

    Jennifer Bates

    She headed to the Senate to blast her employer for its "grueling" working conditions, sharing her struggles working for the e-commerce behemoth. Her testimony drew national attention to a landmark Amazon union drive in Alabama, and to her own life story.
  • Jane Fraser, chief executive officer for Latin American at Citigroup Inc., speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Monday, April 29, 2019. The conference brings together leaders in business, government, technology, philanthropy, academia, and the media to discuss actionable and collaborative solutions to some of the most important questions of our time.
    CEO, Citi

    Jane Fraser

    She inherited a bank languishing in third place, hobbled by internal failures and PR embarrassments. Rather than cracking the whip she's proposing hybrid work, Zoom-free Fridays and a radical idea on Wall Street: Ruthlessness doesn't have to define culture.
    • Vijaya Gadde, chief legal officer and general counsel of Twitter, at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California in 2014.
      Head of Legal, Policy and Trust, Twitter

      Vijaya Gadde

      She spearheaded what was arguably Twitter's riskiest decision: banning its most powerful user, Donald Trump. And now she's on the other side, facing down heads of state that are banning — or threatening to ban — Twitter itself.
    • Eleven Madison Park's chef and owner Daniel Humm poses for a portrait in the dining room of the Michelin-starred restaurant on May 20, 2020. Restaurants were shuttered as the coronavirus outbreak continued in the Manhattan borough of New York.
      Chef & Owner, Eleven Madison Park

      Daniel Humm

      He soared to culinary stardom on dishes like lavender-honey glazed duck, butter-poached lobster and a famous foie gras. Now he's going vegan: leaving meat off the menu at his lavish eatery Eleven Madison Park and trying to make a mark with vegetables alone.
      • General manager, Yankees

        Kim Ng

        She was Derek Jeter's first call when he needed someone to turn the Marlins around. Not only is she Major League Baseball's first female GM, but she's tasked with reviving a team with a small budget, limited payroll and a frustrated fanbase. There is little room for error.
      • Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India Ltd., at the company's Hadapsar plant in Pune, Maharashtra, India, on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021.
        CEO, Serum Institute of India

        Adar Poonawalla

        His massive vaccine company manufactured millions of Covid-19 jabs last year, even before they were approved. But it wasn't enough after India's brutal second wave. The "vaccine prince" needs to get back on track to stop vaccine inequality — and the pandemic.
      • CEO, Coca-Cola

        James Quincey

        He axed hundreds of well-known brands, including the beloved Odwalla and Tab. Then he turned to Coke. In the US he killed Coca-Cola Energy, a much-hyped beverage that was fairly new, and he changed the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar recipe. Will the ruthless strategy pay off?
      • CEO, Bugatti-Rimac

        Mate Rimac

        His company makes eye-poppingly fast electric hypercars in Croatia, and it's now taking over the storied Bugatti brand. He's betting he can steer the maker of gas-guzzling supercars through the treacherous turn to electrification.
      • CEO, Didi

        Cheng Wei

        He built Didi into a world-class ride-hailing app and elbowed Uber out of China. But then he incurred Beijing's wrath by going public in the US. Now he faces a balancing act: placating both regulators at home and investors abroad.
      • CEO, Ark Invest

        Cathie Wood

        She's one of the most influential fund managers on Wall Street, making huge bets on future-focused companies like Tesla, Coinbase and Teladoc. But this high-risk/reward strategy has put her investors on a white-knuckle ride in 2021.

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