Mulally voted CEO of the Year by fellow suits

Ford CEO Alan Mulally must have an impressive trophy room. The executive was just voted to be the 2011 CEO of the Year by a group of fellow head honchos, adding yet another honor to his already lengthy list of awards. Chief Executive Magazine readers nominated those leaders they felt deserved a tip of the hat, and the top 10 names with the most votes were then submitted to a selection committee for a final decision. This year's committee was comprised of executives leading companies ranging from Office Depot to MetLife and Ernst & Young.

Despite Ford taking a beating in this year's JD Power Initial Quality rankings due to trouble with its MyFord Touch and Sync systems, the selection committee still recognized Mulally for helping usher the automaker through some of the darkest days of domestic auto production. Last year, Mulally pulled down honors for Businessperson of the Year and he made the Motor Trend power list for 2011. We hear he's shooting for an Oscar in 2012. Hit the jump for the CEO of the Year press release.
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Ford's Alan Mulally Named 2011 CEO of the Year

Peer CEOs Vote in 26th Annual Award

GREENWICH, Conn., June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ford CEO Alan Mulally has been named "2011 Chief Executive of the Year," an honor bestowed upon an outstanding corporate leader, nominated and selected by a group of his or her peers.

"The success he showed in the face of incredible difficulty was just extraordinary," said James Turley, chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young and member of the 2011 Selection Committee. "The foresight he showed throughout the process, the courage he showed in making some tough decisions on popular brands, the global mindset he showed, and above all, the statesmanship he showed when two major competitors were on the public dole shows he was thinking for the good of the country as well as his company and industry."

"The turnaround and triumph of Ford is an amazing success story, due largely to his talents, leadership and courage," said Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant and 2010 CEO of the Year. "It's a turnaround not only of an American icon but more importantly, a global icon, as well."

"Mulally has created a leadership template for all of us to follow going forward for what growing a business in the United States is going to look like," said Christine Jacobs, CEO of Theragenics.
Nominations for CEO of the Year were garnered from among the 147,000 readers of Chief Executive magazine. The 10 most frequently cited nominations were evaluated and a winner voted upon at a meeting of a peer Selection Committee, which took place earlier this year in New York City.

Prior CEO of the Year winners include Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Michael Dell, A.G. Lafley, John Chambers, Anne Mulcahy, Larry Bossidy, Andy Grove and Herb Kelleher.

The 2011 CEO of the Year Selection Committee was comprised of Dan Glaser (CEO, Marsh), Hugh Grant (CEO, Monsanto), Fred Hassan (Chairman, Schering-Plough), William Hickey (CEO, Sealed Air), C. Robert Henrikson (CEO, MetLife), Christine Jacobs (CEO, Theragenics), Kristian P. Moor (CEO, Chartis), William R. Nuti (CEO, NCR), Steve Odland (former CEO, Office Depot), Thomas J. Quinlan III (CEO, R.R. Donnelley), Jeffrey Sonnenfeld (CEO, The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute), and James Turley (CEO, Ernst & Young). Tom Saporito, Chairman of RHR International, was an advisor to the Selection Committee.
Mulally's selection as 2011 CEO of the Year will be celebrated at an invitation-only event hosted by NYSE Euronext and the Chief Executive Group at the New York Stock Exchange in July.

For an exclusive interview with Alan Mulally, comments from members of the 2011 Selection Committee, a complete list of prior CEO of the Year winners and their comments on CEO leadership, please visit http://www.ChiefExecutive.net.

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