To determine the members of Extel 2026 Developed Europe Executive Team, we surveyed global buy-side analysts, money managers and sell-side researchers at securities firms and financial institutions that cover the region, including those who cast and received votes in this year’s Europe Research Team survey. Research results reflect the opinions from 1,510 investment professionals at 686 financial services firms. The voting process is entirely independent and unprompted, with participants ranking companies and executives without a pick list or pre-selected options, ensuring unbiased and genuine feedback.
We asked the participants to rank the chief executive officers, chief financial officers and investor relations professionals at the companies in their coverage universes. CEOs were ranked on their credibility & leadership and communication. CFOs were ranked on their ability in financial stewardship and communication. IR Professionals were ranked on their authority & credibility and business & market knowledge. For the Investor Relations programs, companies were ranked on the following attributes: quality of meetings, quality of earnings calls, pro-active communication; consistency of financial disclosure; and granularity of financial disclosure. Additionally, voters also ranked companies on the quality of investor/analyst events, company board on their tenure & board refreshment and strategy & stewardship, and ESG.
Voters rank up to five companies across various attributes. Points are awarded inversely to rank—5 points for first place, 4 for second, and so on. These points are aggregated to produce detailed rankings for CEO, CFO, IR Professional, IR Program, ESG, Company Board, and Investor/Analyst Events voting categories. The overall rankings combine buy-side and sell-side votes for a balanced, comprehensive perspective. The overall rankings in each of the categories are based on combined buy- and sell-side votes. Separate rosters (buy side, sell side) are also available for each award classification.
The same approach as above was used to create the 2026 Developed Europe Large Cap and Developed Europe Small & Midcap Executive Team rankings. Companies with greater than $10 billion in market capitalization are considered Large Cap; companies with less than $10 billion in market capitalization are considered Small & Midcap.
Honored Companies are companies who achieved at least one published position. To earn the designation of Most Honored Company, a company must achieve a weighted score of ten or more points across the seven categories in the combined, buy-side and sell-side rankings, wherein each first-place position is worth three points; second place, two; and third place, one. When a tie exists in the weighted score, companies are ordered according to the number of ranked positions they received.
To be eligible for inclusion on the 2026 Europe Executive Team, a company must be headquartered or have operational or executive headquarters in the region. We keep confidential the identities of the survey respondents to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by our Research Operations Group.
In the midst of 2026’s rising geopolitical uncertainties and rapid technological transformation, one word continued to crop up in discussions with some of Europe’s top CEOS: resiliency.
“Poste Italiane is built for resilience,” said Matteo Del Fante, CEO of Italy’s largest integrated and omnichannel services platform in Italy. “Our business is almost entirely domestic, serving 46 million Italians across financial services, insurance, payments, energy and logistics—giving us natural protection from direct geopolitical exposure."
Recent developments show clearly that resilience and digital sovereignty are becoming even more important, according to Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications provider. The partially state-owned German telecommunications company was formed in 1995 after a restructuring of Deutsche Bundespost, a state monopoly at the time.
“Deutsche Telekom is well positioned because we have been strengthening the resilience of our supply chains and network operations for many years. So far, the direct impact on our business has been limited—but we take the broader geopolitical environment very seriously,” Höttges said. “At the same time, this also creates new business opportunities. Europe needs more digital sovereignty—and Deutsche Telekom is well positioned to provide it.”
