Chief Executive

About Chief Executive

Chief Executive is an American business magazine published by Chief Executive Group, LLC, and based in Stamford, Connecticut. It covers what its publisher calls the "CEO community" in the United States, featuring notable business leaders and stories related to the C-suite and the top job. Begun in 1976, the magazine has spent nearly five decades chronicling the people who run the country's largest enterprises, pairing interviews and analysis with peer-driven awards and influential rankings. Its website, chiefexecutive.net, carries its journalism online alongside newsletters and research.

Founding by John Deuss

Chief Executive was founded in 1976 by oil trading entrepreneur John Deuss, who conceived it as a forum where the world's most important and influential leaders could share their ideas and inspiration for a better world. Deuss used the magazine as a vehicle for building relationships with global leaders, frequently featuring them on covers and in the pages of the publication. The venture was unusual for its time: a business magazine that began not with company earnings or market coverage, but with statesmen and heads of government.

The premier issue, dated July/August/September 1977, depicted President Jimmy Carter on the cover, setting the tone for a publication that treated its subjects as world-historical figures. In its earliest years, the magazine positioned itself as a meeting place for power, a glossy forum in which political and economic leadership could be presented to an audience of peers.

The Early Years: World Leaders on the Cover

Following the Carter cover, subsequent issues carried exclusive interviews with a remarkable roster of dignitaries: the Shah of Iran, François Mitterrand, who would become the 21st president of France, Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, the 7th prime minister of India, José López Portillo, the 51st president of Mexico, and Anwar El Sadat, the 3rd president of Egypt, along with former president Ronald Reagan. The lineup reflected Deuss's international network as an oil trader and his ambition to make the magazine a salon for global decision-makers.

These early issues established the magazine's signature format — long, serious conversations with leaders, presented with the visual polish of a prestige publication — and gave it an international reach that few American business titles could claim. The cover subjects were not entrepreneurs or corporate managers but the people running nations, a distinction that shaped the magazine's self-image for years.

The 1978 Pivot Toward Corporate America

In July 1978, the publication shifted toward a more corporate and capitalistic focus, redirecting its pages from heads of state to corporate chief executives such as Jack Welch and Bill Gates. The change recognized where the magazine's natural readership and revenue lay: with the leaders of American business rather than the occupants of palaces and presidential offices.

The pivot proved decisive. By concentrating on the CEO as a distinct figure — with distinct pressures, responsibilities and peer relationships — the magazine carved out a niche that general business publications did not serve directly. It began to treat the chief executive's job as a profession in its own right, worthy of specialized journalism, community-building and recognition, a framing it has maintained ever since.

J.P. Donlon's Leadership

Much of the magazine's identity was shaped by J.P. Donlon, the long-serving editor who became, in the words of Chief Executive Group's executive chairman Wayne Cooper, both a confidante and a voice for two generations of CEOs. Donlon recognized the achievements of top leaders, gave them a place to air their pressing concerns, and built the magazine into a publication where chief executives could share experiences and ideas with one another.

Donlon became one of the few journalists in the United States who truly understood CEOs at a time when public perception and scrutiny of the top job kept growing. When the business world came under fire from mainstream media, he appeared on CNN, CNBC and Fox News to represent the CEO perspective. His name, colleagues said, became synonymous with Chief Executive itself.

The CEO of the Year Award

In 1986, Donlon debuted Chief Executive's annual CEO of the Year award, an honor he designed as one bestowed by a selection committee composed entirely of CEOs rather than editors. The first recipient was Roger Smith of General Motors, and the award became a career-capping highlight for those who received it precisely because it was handed out by their peers.

Over the decades the honor has gone to many of the most prominent names in American business, including Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, David Cote of Honeywell, Bob Ulrich, Hugh Grant, Alan Mulally, Marc Benioff, Greg Brown, George David, Fred Smith, Hank Greenberg, John Chambers, Michael Dell and Sandy Weill. The peer-driven format has remained the award's distinguishing feature and a point of pride for the publication.

CEO Roundtables and the Peer Community

Donlon also conceived and launched the idea of in-person "CEO Roundtables," forums in which leaders could candidly share insights and ideas with their peers. The concept was considered revolutionary for a business publication at the time, and it has remained consistently popular with the magazine's readers ever since.

The roundtables grew into a broader community-building enterprise. Today, Chief Executive Group operates Chief Executive Network, a CEO peer network, alongside conferences and roundtables that enable top corporate officers to discuss key subjects and share their experiences within a community of peers. The magazine thus functions not only as a publication but as the editorial anchor of an ongoing conversation among chief executives.

Best & Worst States for Business

Each May, the magazine publishes its "Best & Worst States for Business" rankings, based on survey results from its CEO readership base. Chief executives grade the states on taxes and regulation, the quality of the workforce and the living environment, among other categories, producing one of the most closely watched annual scorecards in American economic development.

The rankings have occasionally generated political theater. The 2011 edition elicited a friendly feud between Florida Governor Rick Scott and Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose states ranked third and first respectively, with each touting his state's business climate. The episode illustrated the ranking's influence: governors campaign on it, and site-selection professionals treat it as a serious data point.

The Chief Executive Group Era

In 2009, the magazine was purchased by Chief Executive Group, a subsidiary of Greenhaven Partners, with Wayne Cooper serving as president and chairman and Marshall Cooper as CEO. The acquisition gave the publication institutional backing and a mandate to expand beyond print into a multi-media and event business.

Today, Chief Executive Group describes its purpose as elevating the performance of chief executives. Its products and services include the flagship Chief Executive magazine, online publications, research, the Chief Executive Network peer network, and several national events. The company positions itself as committed to the needs of the CEO, providing insight to help chief executives lead their businesses into the future.

National Events: CEO2CEO Summit and Beyond

Among the company's signature gatherings are the CEO of the Year event, the CEO2CEO Summit and the Smart Manufacturing Summit. These national events bring together senior leaders for peer discussion, keynote presentations and the presentation of the magazine's honors, extending the roundtable concept Donlon pioneered to a larger stage.

The events business has become central to the company's model, reflecting a broader shift in business publishing toward community and convening as complements to editorial content. For attendees, the summits offer the same candid peer exchange the magazine has always promised; for the company, they deepen relationships with the CEO audience it serves.

Rankings, Research and the Mid-Market

Beyond CEO of the Year and the Best & Worst States for Business rankings, the magazine produces several other industry benchmarks, including Best Companies for Leaders, Wealth Creators and the Top 100 Mid-Market Elite Businesses. The mid-market program was created because judges of the main CEO of the Year award had tended to favor leaders of large, complex companies, and the publication wanted to honor outstanding smaller enterprises.

To identify the best mid-market companies — private or public firms with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion — the magazine's researchers have drawn on data from the National Center for the Middle Market at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, FactSet Research Systems and published lists including the Inc. 5000. The effort reflects the magazine's conviction that the mid-market is the backbone of the economy and deserves its own spotlight.

Circulation and Readership

The magazine reaches a controlled circulation of approximately 42,000 chief executive officers and their peers, a figure audited twice yearly by BPA Worldwide. Chief Executive began publishing its magazine content online in 1998, and its digital presence at chiefexecutive.net now includes e-newsletters and online content alongside the print edition.

The controlled-circulation model means the magazine is distributed to a qualified audience of senior leaders rather than sold broadly on newsstands, a structure that has allowed it to maintain a concentrated, high-value readership for decades. With Dan Bigman serving as editor and an ISSN of 0160-4724, the Stamford-based publication remains the definitive source, in its own description, that CEOs turn to for insight and ideas that help increase their effectiveness and grow their business.