Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods, was named Executive of the Year in the 2016 Best in Biz Awards International competition. Gold, silver and bronze levels are awarded in the Executive of the Year category, and Ettinger was named a gold winner. Ettinger was also named one of the World's Best CEOs by Barron's earlier this year.

One of the judges stated, “While you might not associate food companies with innovation, Hormel Foods is great example of responding to changing trends as consumers look for more healthy and nutritious choices. What most impressed me is how their CEO, Jeffrey Ettinger, has kept the company at the forefront of change while consistently posting solid financial results. What also struck me was how their vision of success goes beyond the executive suite, particularly in terms of supporting a diverse workplace and giving back to the global community by donating food to countries in need.”

Winners in the 4th annual program include public and private companies from over 30 countries and a wide variety of industries. Winners were determined based on scoring from an international panel of judges from top-tier news, business, finance and technology publications and media outlets from 15 countries and all continents.

“Judging for the Executive of the Year category is quite different from evaluating a company’s overall performance, as you need to carefully consider personal intangibles such as leadership and vision,” said Jon Arnold, principal analyst with J Arnold & Associates and fourth year Best in Biz Awards program judge. “Another challenge is that the candidates came from a wide variety of industries, with each executive facing a distinct set of competitive factors. All of these executives have been successful with their companies, but by evaluating how well their leadership translated into business-level results, I was able to rank order their standing for this category.”

Since 2011, Best in Biz Awards has been recognizing companies for their business success as judged by renowned members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are currently conferred in two separate programs: North America and International, and in more than 60 categories, including company, team, executive, product, and PR and media. For more information, visit www.bestinbizawards.com.

Source: Hormel Foods