Awarding Excellence in Business Leadership

The past year will probably go down as one of the most challenging in history for global business leaders. So it is even more vital that those individuals who truly demonstrate exemplary leadership are acknowledged. The CNBC European Business Leaders Awards (EBLA) recognise the most outstanding executive leaders in Europe today. CNBC, in partnership with the Financial Times and with the support of chief executives from Europe’s top-ranked companies, honours Europe’s most influential CEOs. EBLA, now in its seventh year, has become one of the most prestigious awards schemes in the business world and is highly anticipated by participants.

EBLA is a unique awards programme. What sets EBLA apart from other schemes is that the nominations are made by CEOs for their peers. The shortlist is then assessed by a distinguished panel of expert judges, which includes past CEO winners. The judging panel is chaired by Sir William Castell, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust.

The underlying motivation behind the Awards is to discover which CEOs are creating a culture of entrepreneurship, developing best practices and carving out powerful and sustainable models of business in the global economy.

Those honoured at EBLA 2009 included Bart Becht, Reckitt Benckiser’s CEO, as European Business Leader of the Year; James Murdoch, Chairman & CEO of News Corporation as Business Leader of the Future, Tesco’s Sir Terry Leahy as Innovator of the Year and Nestlé’s Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. A complete list of last year’s winners can be found here.