H-E-B chairman Charles Butt rings up spot among country’s top CEOs

When it comes to a top CEO ranking, it’s never a surprise to see H-E-B’s owner on the list.

On June 15, Glassdoor released its ranking of the Top 100 CEOs in 2021. Charles C. Butt, the CEO and chairman for the San Antonio-based grocery chain, landed at No. 7, with a 97 percent approval rating from his employees.

Glassdoor compiled the order by using its proprietary algorithm, and each CEO approval rating is determined based on the quantity, quality, and consistency of reviews during the period of eligibility.

Boston Consulting Group’s Rich Lesser ended up in the top spot, while Abobe’s Shantanu Narayen claimed the second. Both had a 99 percent approval rating along with third-place CEO of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Peter Pisters.

The top 10 included the CEOs for Southwest Airlines (No. 4), Via Inc (No. 5), Mircosoft (No. 6), Delta Air Lines (No. 8), Red Hat (No. 9) and Booz Allen Hamilton (No. 10). Butt was the only grocery chain store CEO to make the top 10.

In January, Forbes also listed the H-E-B Butt family at No. 15 out of 50 in its 2020 ranking of the richest families in America.

Charles, whose grandmother Florence Butt opened the family’s first grocery store in Kerrville in 1905, started as a bag boy when he was 8, according to the San Antonio Express-News. He took over management of what was then a growing chain from his father Howard Edward Butt in 1971 after he earned business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School.

H-E-B, which boasts more than 340 stores in Texas and Mexico, produces more than $16 billion in annual sales, according to Forbes.