Lars Rebien Sørensen

Sørensen ran Novo Nordisk from 2000 to 2016 under a structure in which the Novo Nordisk Foundation controls the company's votes, shielding it from takeovers and activist pressure. He used that room to keep investing in diabetes and obesity research through lean years, groundwork for the GLP-1 drugs that later made Novo Europe's most valuable company for a time. Its more recent stumbles against Eli Lilly are a reminder that patient ownership does not guarantee good execution.