Glassdoor's Top Tech CEOs of 2021: The Usual Suspects, With One Big Exception

Mark Zuckerberg had a busy year fighting with Apple, fending off criticism over how Facebook handled former President Trump, and throwing spears. But all that activity did little to endear him to the workforce he oversees. For the first time in its eight-year history, Glassdoor's Top 100 US CEOs list does not include Zuckerberg.

It does feature Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, though. Of the 100 US CEOs selected for Glassdoor's Employees’ Choice Awards, announced today, there are 29 tech industry execs on the list. At No. 32 with a 95% approval rating, Cook is the only CEO to be featured on the list all eight years, Glassdoor says. Nadella, meanwhile, has fans within Microsoft worldwide. He ranks sixth on the US list with a 97% approval rating, but also appears on breakout lists for Canada, Germany, and the UK.

The highest-ranking tech CEO is Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, who comes in at No. 2 on the US list with a 99% approval rating. Google CEO Sundar Pichai just makes it on the list at No. 90 with a 90% approval rating.

To make the list, a CEO has to get at least 100 CEO approval ratings and 100 senior management ratings between May 2020 and May 2021. Glassdoor's average CEO rating is 73%.

After a year of unprecedented challenges, employees looked to leadership to provide direction during the pandemic and a prioritization of their health and safety, continuity in the company's mission and a strong company culture, and opportunities for professional growth. They also appreciated a personable leader they could relate to.

Companies that have been essential for workers from all industries found their CEOs on the list. Slack kept virtual office spaces open on its service, and its CEO, Stewart Butterfield, joined the list for the first time, at No. 82 with 92% approval. Maybe no company has been associated more with our new office reality than Zoom and its CEO, Eric S. Yuan, who is at No. 63 with a 93% approval rating.

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One thing that did not change over the year is that the gender gap is persistent. There are only five women on the US list at all and none of them head tech companies.

Also not on the list? Amazon's Jeff Bezos. He did make an appearance in 2013 (No. 16) and 2014 (No. 33), but the e-commerce giant's explosive growth over the past seven years (and during the pandemic) has not coincided with an increase in warm and fuzzy feelings about Bezos.