If anyone were to stand in the center of any city and ask pedestrians to name the first business leader that comes to mind, names like Amancio Ortega , Ana Botín , Florentino Pérez , or Juan Roig would surely feature prominently in their responses.
A similar exercise is what the corporate reputation consultancy Merco has been conducting for the past 25 years through its Corporate Reputation and Leaders Monitor, creating an annual ranking of the leaders and companies with the best reputations. In the 2025 edition, Juan Roig , the president of Mercadona, stands out as the most valued businessman in Spain.
Juan Roig, the Unchanging Leader
It can’t be said that Juan Roig was surprised to top this ranking. The president of Mercadona has held this position for seven consecutive years, ever since he unseated Pablo Isla, the then-CEO of Inditex, in 2019.
This recognition of leadership is the result of the decisions Roig has made while heading the supermarket chain, transforming the traditional supermarket model into one that prioritizes profitability , introduces new ways of consuming their products, and embraces the digitalization of Mercadona.
Beyond the steadfast Juan Roig, the list of highly regarded leaders features a greater female presence compared to previous years. Ana Botín , the president of Banco Santander , occupies the second position, closely followed by Amancio Ortega. Although he does not hold an executive position in Inditex or Pontegadea, his leadership remains one of the most valued.
Ranking fourth, albeit a bit further behind, is Marta Ortega , who is successfully leading the textile empire founded by her father. Rounding out the top five is Ignacio Sánchez Galán , president of Iberdrola , who has leveraged his two-decade tenure at the energy company to earn this place.
Leaders and Their Companies
While leadership significantly influences a company’s reputation, there is not always a direct correlation between the most valued leader and the best-rated company.
An example of this is the ranking of the best-rated companies in Spain for 2025. This list is not headed by Mercadona, as one might expect given Juan Roig’s leadership, but by Inditex , led by Marta Ortega, who ranks fourth among the most valued leaders.
However, Mercadona still maintains a respectable second place in that list. A similar situation occurs with Banco Santander; even though its president ranks second in leadership, it barely makes it to the ninth position on the list of the best-rated companies in Spain.
Inditex has monopolized the top spot on that list for nearly a decade, with the lone exception of 2022. That year, Mercadona displaced the textile giant, only to lose the top position again the following year.
The top 10 companies are rounded out by Grupo Social ONCE , Repsol , Iberdrola , Coca-Cola , BBVA , CaixaBank , and Mapfre .
In Xataka | The list of the richest people in Spain in 2025: many changes in the figures, but not in the protagonists.
Image | Flikr (Junta Informa), GTRES