
About us
Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year award program was founded to identify and recognize outstanding leadership and achievement by a Canadian Chief Executive Officer.
This highly respected award honours an executive in Canadian business who exemplifies integrity, insists upon excellence, earns the trust of others and has built a globally competitive organization.
The honoree is selected by a distinguished advisory board comprised of eminent business leaders based on the following criteria:
Vision and Leadership
The nominee must have demonstrated vision and leadership over several years. This includes specific situations or initiatives where the nominee’s insight, discernment and ability to lead and inspire has guided his or her organization to a new level of growth, achievement or recognition.
Corporate Performance
Financial information is an important indicator of success. The Advisory Board will examine financial statistics for the nominee's organization for the past five fiscal years. Leadership in board governance policy and procedure will also be assessed.
Global Competitiveness
Global competitiveness details any international initiatives undertaken by the nominee. This may involve situations where the nominee has foreseen potential new markets abroad, enhanced operations in other countries, set up foreign ventures or expanded the organization's affairs internationally. It is important to recognize any internal or external barriers to this global expansion, and strategies used by the nominee to overcome them. For organizations that are primarily domestic in scope but operate on a world-class level, performance will be compared with that of global competitors in the same sector/industry.
Innovative Business Achievements
How is the nominee's organization unique or innovative in its relationships with its employees and its customers? What are its major products and/or services? Why is it unique and how has it demonstrated excellence in its field?
Social Responsibility
In addition to corporate performance and innovation, a truly outstanding CEO uses his or her private sector skills and creativity to help the community overcome social or environmental problems.

Paragon
Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year Award’s symbol of recognition and excellence.
Sculptor Rick Jacobson drew on four art movements to reflect the complexity of the role and responsibilities of today’s CEO. The Art Deco movement lends a dynamism that recalls resilience and risk tolerance. The Futurist movement, with sweeping curves and asymmetry, represents vision and innovation in alignment. The multiple viewpoints of Cubism symbolize complexity, diversity, and engagement at home and internationally. Paragon also draws on the Bauhaus School for its emphasis on unifying visions to serve function.
Paragon’s brightly honed gold surfaces and its evocation of billowing sails remind us that the journey to success is ever onward.