BHP chief named among world’s best leaders

BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers has been named in a US magazine’s list of the world’s 30 best CEOs.

Kloppers is the only CEO of an Australian company on the list.

To make the Barron’s list, a CEO must have been in their role for at least three years and their company needs to be worth more than $US5 billion. CEOs are selected based on insights from investors, analysts and executives.

Of the other 29 leaders on Barron’s list, 18 were from US companies, seven were from Europe, three were from Asia and one was from Canada.

JPMorgan Chase‘s Jamie Dimon and Oracle‘s Larry Ellison made the list, as well as some lesser-known leaders such as Priceline.com‘s Jeffrey Boyd and Perrigo‘s Joseph Papa.

In Asia, Hyflux’s Olivia Lum heads a growing Singaporean water-treatment technology company.

There were 12 CEOs who made the list for the first time. The newcomers included luxury handbag designer Coach‘s Lew Frankfort, Salesforce.com‘s Marc Benioff, TD Bank’s Ed Clark and Intel‘s Paul Otellini.

BMW chief Norbert Reithofer also made the list.

“BMW remained profitable throughout the downturn, and it maintained its number one position in the luxury car market while generating some of the industry’s best margins,” Barrons says.

Some of the departing CEOs left as a result of retirement, including IBM’s Sam Palmisano, while Apple‘s Steve Jobs was removed from the list after his death in October 2010.