Chief Executive Magazine has named Delta CEO Ed Bastian the
2023 CEO of the Year. The award, determined by a selection committee comprised of
past winners and current CEO-level leaders under the guidance of AlixPartners
chief talent officer and managing director Ted Bililies, has become a who’s who
among corporate senior leadership.
The selection committee cited numerous prestigious awards
Delta has garnered since Bastian took the leadership role in May 2016,
including top
U.S. airline by The Wall Street Journal; the top-ranking airline in Fortune’s World’s Most Admired
Companies; the most
on-time global airline by FlightGlobal; the Platinum
Award recipient for operational excellence by Cirium; among TIME100’s Most
Influential Companies; and a Glassdoor
Best Place to Work.
Among corporate travel buyers, Delta has landed atop BTN’s
annual Airline Survey for 12 continuous years, with seven of those under
Bastian’s leadership.
Bastian is the latest in a handful of travel industry CEOs
to have been awarded the honor. He joins Arne Sorenson of Marriott
International, who received the honor in 2019; Southwest’s Herb Kelleher who
received the award in 1999; and Marriott Corporation’s J. Willard Marriott, Jr., who
received the award in 1988.
Chief Executive Magazine, founded in 1977, has bestowed the
honor since 1986.
