Monsanto's Hugh Grant Named 2010 CEO of the Year

Peer CEOs Vote in 25th Annual Award

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Jun 24, 2010, 09:00 ET

GREENWICH, Conn., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant has been named "2010 Chief Executive of the Year," a prestigious honor bestowed upon an outstanding corporate leader, nominated and selected by a group of his or her peers.

"In order to meet the challenge of feeding the world, Hugh Grant and his team at Monsanto understood early the necessity of building the technologies that would improve agricultural productivity by several orders of magnitude," said J.P. Donlon, Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive magazine. "In honoring Grant as this year's Chief Executive of the Year, his peers recognize not only the vision and performance to execute on this strategy, but the courage to face the many obstacles that had to be overcome along the way."

The 2009 CEO of the Year was McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner. Prior winners include Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Michael Dell, A.G. Lafley, John Chambers, Anne Mulcahy, Larry Bossidy, Andy Grove and Herb Kelleher.

Nominations for CEO of the Year were garnered from among the 42,000 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.

The 2010 CEO of the Year Selection Committee was comprised of Dan Glaser (CEO, Marsh), Fred Hassan (former CEO, Schering-Plough), William Hickey (CEO, Sealed Air), C. Robert Henrikson (CEO, MetLife), Edward J. Ludwig (CEO, Becton Dickinson), Kristian P. Moor (CEO, Chartis), William R. Nuti (CEO, NCR), Steve Odland (CEO, Office Depot), Thomas J. Quinlan III (CEO, R.R. Donnelley), Jim Skinner (CEO McDonald's), Jeffrey Sonnenfeld (CEO, The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute), and James Turley (CEO, Ernst & Young).

"Hugh Grant personifies courage, which is what Monsanto needed to persevere in the face of a lot of opposition," said Fred Hassan, Chairman, Bausch & Lomb.

"Hugh Grant is admired by his peers for driving seamless change inside Monsanto while positioning the company for sustainable long-term success, success that will outlive him and provide value to all the stakeholders of Monsanto for years to come," added NCR CEO William Nuti.

Grant will be feted at an invitation-only event hosted by NYSE Euronext and the Chief Executive Group at the New York Stock Exchange in July.

For the exclusive interview with Hugh Grant, comments from members of the 2010 Selection Committee, a complete list of prior CEO of the Year winners and their comments on CEO leadership, please visit ChiefExecutive.net.

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