Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India, is among the top 10 greatest leaders among 50 greatest leaders list by Fortune.

He is the only Indian among the top 10 leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern; mRNA pioneers; Paypal CEO Daniel H Schulman, NBA Rescuers, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s John Nkengasong, Ping An’s Jessica Tan.

Ardern tops the list and has been recognised for her role to stop the spread of COVID-19 in New Zealand. According to Fortune, Her strategy proved successful with few hiccups and her country, which is a nation of nearly 5 million people, reported fewer than 2,700 cases and only 26 deaths. To show solidarity with people affected by the pandemic, the New Zealand PM and her cabinet ministers took a six-month, 20% pay cut in 2020.

Meanwhile, Poonawalla has been recognised for making efforts to bring an end to the global pandemic by supplying COVID-19 vaccines. He heads the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. His company, SII, has been providing “global vaccine equity, providing low-cost vaccines to fight diseases like influenza, measles, and tetanus.”

The Pune-based SII has also pledged to deliver up to 2 billion vaccine doses in the coming years to COVAX, a global initiative to provide vaccines to lower- and middle-income countries.