TOP 100 | LEADERS

Title: CFO Company: Novartis Industry: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Mukul joined Novartis in 2003 from India’ s heavy-engineering and banking sectors, then spent two decades hopping continents as country CFO in France, Poland and Norway, then later CFO International. He took over as group CFO in March 2026, inheriting a company reshaped by the Sandoz and Alcon spin-offs.

Title: CFO Company: Airbus Industry: Aerospace & Defence

A McKinsey alumnus turned DAX40 finance chief, Thomas ran the books at KION and then Covestro before Airbus poached him in 2023 to succeed Dominik Asam. He arrived mid-crisis-recovery, tasked with steadying production ramp-ups across one of Europe’ s most complex industrial supply chains.

24 financechief. com