Bob will accept the award at the NYSE at an event tonight hosted by the magazine.
The “CEO of the Year” award is presented each year to an outstanding corporate leader, nominated and selected by a group of CEO peers. This is the 29th “CEO of the Year” award, with past honorees including Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft; Jack Welch, former CEO of GE; and Michael Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Computers.
The magazine commended Bob on his stewardship of Disney. “Bob is a visionary and innovator who consistently delivers terrific performance across a diverse portfolio of businesses,” Selection Committee Member Dan Glaser, chairman and CEO, Marsh & McLennan, said. “He’s been a disruptive innovator in taking the entertainment industry to another level using new media and new technology,” Selection Committee Member Tom Quinlan, president and CEO, RR Donnelley, added. “He took a great brand and made it better, which isn’t easy to do.”
“Even iconic brands need fixing from time to time,” JP Donlon, editor in chief of Chief Executive magazine, said in the announcement earlier this week. “But instead of the easy fixes, Bob Iger played the long game by addressing Disney’s cultural issues head-on with a three-pronged strategy, making it a stronger, more profitable company with greater depth in its overall brand. For this reason, he is well-deserving of this year’s CEO of the Year honor.”
In an interview with Chief Executive magazine, Bob explained his strategic vision for Disney, which he implemented after being named CEO in 2005. “I created three primary strategic priorities for the Company. One: Invest most of our capital in creating high-quality, branded content and experiences. Two: Embrace technology and use it aggressively to enhance the quality of our product and thus the consumer experience. To enhance what I’ll call ‘distribution’ and thus access to our product. And lastly, to get closer to our customer by becoming more efficient as a company,” he said in the interview. “Technology had to become a significant middle name for the company.” To read the full article, click here.