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| The Best CEOs - Expanded Table | ||
| Listed here by sector and industry are the chief executives who scored the highest when we asked portfolio managers and sell-side equity analysts to choose the top-performing CEOs in their domains. | ||
| Rank | CEO Name | Company Name |
| BASIC MATERIALS | ||
| Chemicals/Commodity | ||
| 1 | Andrew Liveris | Dow Chemical Co. |
| 2 | Hugh Grant | Monsanto Co. |
| 3 | Rajiv Gupta | Rohm & Haas Co. |
| 4 | Charles Bunch | PPG Industries |
| Chemicals/Specialty | ||
| 1 | Dennis Reilley | Praxair |
| 2 | John Jones III | Air Products and Chemicals |
| 3 | Douglas Baker Jr. | Ecolab |
| Metals & Mining | ||
| 1 | Daniel DiMicco | Nucor Corp. |
| 2 | L. Patrick Hassey | Allegheny Technologies |
| Paper & Forest Products | ||
| 1 | Steven Rogel | Weyerhaeuser Co. |
| 2 | Paul Stecko | Packaging Corp. of America |
| 3 | John Faraci | International Paper Co. |
| 4 | Kenneth Jastrow II | Temple-Inland |
| CAPITAL GOODS/INDUSTRIALS | ||
| Aerospace & Defense Electronics | ||
| 1 | George David | United Technologies Corp. |
| 2 | Nicholas Chabraja | General Dynamics Corp. |
| 3 | Robert Stevens | Lockheed Martin Corp. |
| 4 | Mark Donegan | Precision Castparts Corp. |
| 5 | W. James McNerney Jr. | Boeing Co. |
| Airfreight & Surface Transportation | ||
| 1 | Frederick Smith | FedEx Corp. |
| 2 | Matthew Rose | Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. |
| 3 | Peter Rose | Expeditors International of Washington |
| 4 | Kevin Knight | Knight Transportation |
| 5 | Michael Eskew | United Parcel Service |
| Business & Professional Services | ||
| 1 | Jeffrey Joerres | Manpower |
| 2 | Harold (Max) Messmer Jr. | Robert Half International |
| 3 | Robert Silberman | Strayer Education |
| Electrical Equipment & Multi-Industry | ||
| 1 | H. Lawrence Culp Jr. | Danaher Corp. |
| 2 | David Farr | Emerson Electric Co. |
| 3 | Jeffrey Immelt | General Electric Co. |
| 4 | Keith Nosbusch | Rockwell Automation |
| 5 | Kirk Hachigian | Cooper Industries |
| Environmental Services | ||
| 1 | James O’Connor | Republic Services |
| 2 | David Steiner | Waste Management |
| 3 | Ronald Mittelstaedt | Waste Connections |
| Machinery | ||
| 1 | James Owens | Caterpillar |
| 2 | Alexander (Sandy) Cutler | Eaton Corp. |
| 3 | Mark Pigott | Paccar |
| 4 | Robert Lane | Deere & Co. |
| 5 | Carlos Cardoso | Kennametal |
| Packaging | ||
| 1 | R. David Hoover | Ball Corp. |
| 2 | Richard Wambold | Pactiv Corp. |
| 3 | John Conway | Crown Holdings |
| CONSUMER | ||
| Airlines | ||
| 1 | Gary Kelly | Southwest Airlines Co. |
| 2 | Joseph Leonard | AirTran Holdings |
| Apparel, Footwear & Textiles | ||
| 1 | Lewis Frankfort | Coach |
| 2 | Paul Charron 1 | Liz Claiborne |
| 3 | Ralph Lauren | Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. |
| 4 | Mark Parker | Nike |
| Autos & Auto Parts | ||
| 1 | John Barth | Johnson Controls |
| 2 | Timothy Manganello | BorgWarner |
| 3 | Richard Dauch | American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings |
| Beverages | ||
| 1 | Steven Reinemund 2 | PepsiCo |
| 2 | E. Neville Isdell | Coca-Cola Co. |
| 3 | Patrick Stokes 3 | Anheuser-Busch Cos. |
| Cosmetics, Household & Personal Care Products | ||
| 1 | Alan Lafley | Procter & Gamble Co. |
| 2 | Reuben Mark | Colgate-Palmolive Co. |
| 3 | Andrea Jung | Avon Products |
| 4 | Howard Bernick 4 | Alberto-Culver Co. 4 |
| Food | ||
| 1 | Richard Lenny | Hershey Co. |
| 2 | Douglas Conant | Campbell Soup Co. |
| 3 | James Jenness 5 | Kellogg Co. |
| 4 | Gregg Engles | Dean Foods Co. |
| Gaming & Lodging | ||
| 1 | Gary Loveman | Harrah’s Entertainment 6 |
| 2 | Thomas Matthews | International Game Technology |
| 3 | Peter Carlino | Penn National Gaming |
| 4 | Frank Fertitta III | Station Casinos 7 |
| 5 | Stephen Bollenbach | Hilton Hotels |
| Homebuilders & Building Products | ||
| 1 | Donald Tomnitz | D.R. Horton |
| 2 | Robert Toll | Toll Brothers |
| 3 | Stuart Miller | Lennar Corp. |
| 4 | Richard Dugas Jr. | Pulte Homes |
| 5 | R. Chad Dreier | Ryland Group |
| Leisure | ||
| 1 | Micky Arison | Carnival Corp. |
| 2 | Thomas Tiller | Polaris Industries |
| Restaurants | ||
| 1 | David Novak | Yum! Brands |
| 2 | James Skinner | McDonald’s Corp. |
| 3 | David Overton | Cheesecake Factory |
| 4 | James Donald | Starbucks Corp. |
| 5 | Richard Federico | P.F. Chang’s China Bistro |
| Retailing/Broadlines & Department Stores | ||
| 1 | Robert Ulrich | Target Corp. |
| 2 | Terry Lundgren | Federated Department Stores |
| 3 | Myron (Mike) Ullman III | J.C. Penney Co. |
| 4 | James Sinegal | Costco Wholesale Corp. |
| 5 | R. Lawrence Montgomery | Kohl’s Corp. |
| Retailing/Food & Drug Chains | ||
| 1 | John Mackey | Whole Foods Market |
| 2 | Thomas Ryan | CVS Corp. 8 |
| 3 | David Dillon | Kroger Co. |
| 4 | Steven Burd | Safeway |
| 5 | Jeffery Noddle | SuperValu |
| Retailing/Hardlines | ||
| 1 | Robert Niblock | Lowe’s Cos. |
| 2 | Bradbury Anderson | Best Buy Co. |
| 3 | Ronald Sargent | Staples |
| 4 | Steven Temares | Bed Bath & Beyond |
| 5 | Robert Nardelli | Home Depot |
| Retailing/Specialty Stores | ||
| 1 | Scott Edmonds | Chico’s FAS |
| 2 | Michael Jeffries | Abercrombie & Fitch Co. |
| 3 | Bernard Cammarata 9 | TJX Cos. |
| 4 | Richard Hayne | Urban Outfitters |
| 5 | Katherine Krill | AnnTaylor Stores Corp. |
| Tobacco | ||
| 1 | Louis Camilleri | Altria Group |
| ENERGY | ||
| Electric Utilities | ||
| 1 | C. John Wilder | TXU Corp. |
| 2 | James Rogers | Duke Energy Corp. |
| 3 | Paul Evanson | Allegheny Energy |
| 4 | J. Wayne Leonard | Entergy Corp. |
| 5 | David Crane | NRG Energy |
| Integrated Oil | ||
| 1 | Rex Tillerson | Exxon Mobil Corp. |
| 2 | Ray Irani | Occidental Petroleum Corp. |
| 3 | James Mulva | ConocoPhillips |
| 4 | Clarence Cazalot Jr. | Marathon Oil Corp. |
| 5 | Claiborne Deming | Murphy Oil Corp. |
| Natural Gas | ||
| 1 | Keith Rattie | Questar Corp. |
| 2 | Richard Kinder | Kinder Morgan 10 |
| 3 | Murry Gerber | Equitable Resources |
| 4 | Donald Felsinger | Sempra Energy |
| Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | ||
| 1 | Mark Papa | EOG Resources |
| 2 | G. Steven Farris | Apache Corp. |
| 3 | Robert Simpson | XTO Energy |
| 4 | Aubrey McClendon | Chesapeake Energy Corp. |
| 5 | James Hackett | Anadarko Petroleum Corp. |
| Oil Services & Equipment | ||
| 1 | Andrew Gould | Schlumberger |
| 2 | Bernard Duroc-Danner | Weatherford International |
| 3 | Michael McShane | Grant Prideco |
| 4 | James Day 11 | Noble Corp. |
| 5 | Chadwick Deaton | Baker Hughes |
| FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS | ||
| Banks/Large-Cap | ||
| 1 | Richard Kovacevich | Wells Fargo & Co. |
| 2 | G. Kennedy Thompson | Wachovia Corp. 12 |
| 3 | Kenneth Lewis | Bank of America Corp. |
| 4 | Charles Prince | Citigroup |
| 5 | James Dimon | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| Banks/Midcap | ||
| 1 | Vernon Hill II | Commerce Bancorp |
| 2 | John Kanas | North Fork Bancorp. 13 |
| 3 | Harris Simmons | Zions Bancorp. |
| 4 | D. Paul Jones Jr. | Compass Bancshares |
| 5 | Dominic Ng | East West Bancorp |
| Brokers & Asset Managers | ||
| 1 | Richard Fuld Jr. | Lehman Brothers Holdings |
| 2 | Lloyd Blankfein | Goldman Sachs Group |
| 3 | E. Stanley O’Neal | Merrill Lynch & Co. |
| 4 | Raymond (Chip) Mason | Legg Mason |
| 5 | John Mack | Morgan Stanley |
| Insurance/Life | ||
| 1 | Arthur Ryan | Prudential Financial |
| 2 | Ramani Ayer | Hartford Financial Services Group |
| 3 | Daniel Amos | Aflac |
| 4 | Jon Boscia | Lincoln National Corp. |
| 5 | Robert Pollock | Assurant |
| Insurance/Nonlife | ||
| 1 | Edward Liddy 14 | Allstate Corp. |
| 2 | Glenn Renwick | Progressive Corp. |
| 3 | Evan Greenberg | Ace 15 |
| 4 | William Berkley | W.R. Berkley Corp. |
| 5 | John Finnegan | Chubb Corp. |
| Mortgage Finance | ||
| 1 | Angelo Mozilo | Countrywide Financial Corp. |
| 2 | Herbert Sandler, Marion Sandler | Golden West Financial Corp. 12 |
| 3 | Michael Perry | IndyMac Bancorp |
| 4 | James Konrath | Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. |
| REITs | ||
| 1 | Christopher Nassetta | Host Hotels & Resorts |
| 2 | Jeffrey Schwartz | ProLogis |
| 3 | David Simon | Simon Property Group |
| 4 | Edward Linde | Boston Properties |
| 4 | Jon Bortz | LaSalle Hotel Properties |
| Specialty Finance | ||
| 1 | Richard Fairbank | Capital One Financial Corp. 13 |
| 2 | Kenneth Chenault | American Express Co. |
| 3 | Jeffrey Peek | CIT Group |
| HEALTH CARE | ||
| Biotechnology | ||
| 1 | Arthur Levinson | Genentech |
| 2 | John Martin | Gilead Sciencess |
| 3 | Kevin Sharer | Amgen |
| 4 | Henri Termeer | Genzyme Corp. |
| 5 | Sol Barer | Celgene Corp. |
| Health Care Facilities | ||
| 1 | Wayne Smith | Community Health Systems |
| 2 | Jack Bovender Jr. | HCA 16 |
| 3 | James (Denny) Shelton | Triad Hospitals |
| 4 | Paul Ormond | Manor Care |
| 5 | Kent Thiry | DaVita |
| Health Care Technology & Distribution | ||
| 1 | Edwin (Mac) Crawford | Caremark Rx 8 |
| 2 | David Snow Jr. | Medco Health Solutions |
| 3 | John Hammergren | McKesson Corp. |
| 4 | Joseph Herring | Covance |
| 5 | Stanley Bergman | Henry Schein |
| Managed Care | ||
| 1 | William McGuire 17 | UnitedHealth Group |
| 2 | Larry Glasscock | WellPoint |
| 3 | Ronald Williams | Aetna |
| 4 | Dale Wolf | Coventry Health Care |
| 5 | Michael McCallister | Humana |
| Medical Supplies & Devices | ||
| 1 | Arthur Collins Jr. | Medtronic |
| 2 | William Weldon | Johnson & Johnson |
| 3 | J. Raymond Elliott 18 | Zimmer Holdings |
| 4 | James Tobin | Boston Scientific Corp. |
| 5 | Daniel Starks | St. Jude Medical |
| Pharmaceuticals/Major | ||
| 1 | Sidney Taurel | Eli Lilly and Co. |
| 2 | Fred Hassan | Schering-Plough Corp. |
| 3 | Robert Essner | Wyeth |
| 4 | Richard Clark | Merck & Co. |
| Pharmaceuticals/Specialty | ||
| 1 | David Pyott | Allergan |
| 2 | Bruce Downey | Barr Pharmaceuticals |
| MEDIA | ||
| Cable & Satellite | ||
| 1 | Brian Roberts | Comcast Corp. |
| 2 | Charles Ergen | EchoStar Communications Corp. |
| 3 | Chase Carey | DirecTV Group |
| Entertainment | ||
| 1 | Robert Iger | Walt Disney Co. |
| 2 | K. Rupert Murdoch | News Corp. |
| 3 | Richard Parsons | Time Warner |
| Publishing & Advertising Agencies | ||
| 1 | John Wren | Omnicom Group |
| 2 | Kenneth Lowe | E.W. Scripps Co. |
| 3 | Harold (Terry) McGraw III | McGraw-Hill Cos. |
| 4 | Craig Dubow | Gannett Co. |
| 5 | Gary Pruitt | McClatchy Co. |
| Radio & TV Broadcasting | ||
| 1 | David Field | Entercom Communications Corp. |
| 2 | Mark Mays | Clear Channel Communications 19 |
| TECHNOLOGY | ||
| Computer Services & IT Consulting | ||
| 1 | William Green | Accenture 15 |
| 2 | Paul Garcia | Global Payments |
| 3 | Lakshmi Narayanan 20 | Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. |
| 4 | Henry (Ric) Duques | First Data Corp. |
| Electronics Manufacturing Services | ||
| 1 | Timothy Main | Jabil Circuit |
| Imaging Technology | ||
| 1 | Bruce Chizen | Adobe Systems |
| 2 | Anne Mulcahy | Xerox Corp. |
| Internet | ||
| 1 | Terry Semel | Yahoo! |
| 2 | Eric Schmidt | |
| 3 | Margaret Whitman | EBay |
| 4 | Brian McAndrews | AQuantive |
| IT Hardware | ||
| 1 | Mark Hurd | Hewlett-Packard Co. |
| 2 | Steven Jobs | Apple Computer |
| 3 | Joseph Tucci | EMC Corp. |
| 4 | Daniel Warmenhoven | Network Appliance |
| 5 | Samuel Palmisano | IBM Corp. |
| Semiconductor Capital Equipment | ||
| 1 | Stephen Newberry | Lam Research Corp. |
| 2 | Richard Wallace | KLA-Tencor Corp. |
| 3 | Michael Splinter | Applied Materials |
| 4 | Robert Akins | Cymer |
| 5 | Gideon Argov | Entegris |
| Semiconductors | ||
| 1 | Richard Templeton | Texas Instruments |
| 2 | Steve Sanghi | Microchip Technology |
| 3 | Sehat Sutardja | Marvell Technology Group 15 |
| 4 | Jen-Hsun Huang | Nvidia Corp. |
| 5 | Michel Mayer | Freescale Semiconductor 21 |
| Software | ||
| 1 | Lawrence Ellison | Oracle Corp. |
| 2 (tie) | Carl Bass | Autodesk |
| 2 (tie) | John Thompson | Symantec Corp. |
| 4 | Marc Benioff | Salesforce.com |
| 5 (tie) | Steve Bennett | Intuit |
| 5 (tie) | Mark Templeton | Citrix Systems |
| TELECOMMUNICATIONS | ||
| Data Networking & Wireline Equipment | ||
| 1 | John Chambers | Cisco Systems |
| Telecom Equipment/Wireless | ||
| 1 | Edward Zander | Motorola |
| 2 | Paul Jacobs | Qualcomm |
| Telecom Services/Wireless | ||
| 1 | Scott Ford | Alltel Corp. |
| 2 | Gary Forsee | Sprint Nextel Corp. |
| Telecom Services/Wireline | ||
| 1 | Edward Whitacre Jr. | AT&T * |
| 2 | Richard Notebaert | Qwest Communications International |
| 1 Stepped down as CEO and became chairman November 6, 2006. | ||
| 2 Stepped down as CEO and became chairman October 1, 2006; expected to retire in May 2007. | ||
| 3 Stepped down as CEO November 30, 2006; became chairman December 1; expected to retire effective March 1, 2007. | ||
| 4 Stepped down effective November 16, 2006, upon company’s reorganization; company changed name to Alberto-Culver LLC. | ||
| 5 Was expected to step down as CEO effective December 31, 2006, and to remain chairman. | ||
| 6 Accepted a private equity buyout bid in December 2006. | ||
| 7 Frank Fertitta III launched a management-led buyout bid on December 2, 2006. | ||
| 8 On November 1, 2006, CVS Corp. and Caremark Rx agreed to merge; the deal is expected to be completed in six to 12 months. Edwin (Mac) Crawford will become chairman of the newly combined company. | ||
| 9 Will step down as CEO effective January 28, 2007; will remain chairman. | ||
| 10 Agreed to management-led buyout November 15, 2006; deal expected to be completed in early 2007. | ||
| 11 Stepped down as CEO October 30, 2006; remains chairman; expected to retire effective April 30, 2007. | ||
| 12 Wachovia Corp. and Golden West Financial Corp. merged effective October 1, 2006; G. Kennedy Thompson remains CEO. | ||
| 13 Capital One Financial Corp. and North Fork Bankcorp. merged effective December 1, 2006; Richard Fairbank remains CEO; John Kanas is president of Capital One’s banking business. | ||
| 14 Stepped down as CEO effective January 1, 2007, and Liddy will remain chairman until retirement in spring 2008. | ||
| 15 Based in Bermuda. | ||
| 16 Taken private in management-led buyout completed November 17, 2006. | ||
| 17 Stepped down November 30, 2006, as a result of options backdating investigation. | ||
| 18 To step down as CEO in first-half 2007; to remain chairman through November 30, 2007. | ||
| 19 Agreed on November 16, 2006, to be taken private. | ||
| 20 Was expected to step down as CEO and become vice chairman effective January 1, 2007. | ||
| 21 Taken private effective December 4, 2006. | ||
