Press Room

Region's Top CEOs named at Asia Business Leader Awards
YTL's Francis Yeoh Named Malaysia CEO of the Year

Kuala Lumpur, 9 November 2005 - CNBC Asia Pacific today announced the winners of the 4th Asia Business Leader Awards (ABLA), with Chen Feng, Chairman, Hainan Airlines, receiving the flagship Asia Business Leader of the Year award. The title was presented to Mr Chen in recognition of his ability to retain loyal customers, inspire and motive his staff and steer his company to becoming one of the fastest growing airlines in China. Mr Chen was recently named China Business Leader of the Year at the China Business Leader Awards, presented by CNBC and Royal Salute.

The other ABLA 2005 winners are: 

o Asia Innovator of the Year - Sang Hwan Park, CEO, Hanatour - named for his achievements in new product development and groundbreaking business processes, business models and strategies
o Asia Corporate Citizen of the Year - Debu Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Hindalco Industries - named in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, education, the environment and community development
o Asia CEOs' Choice of the Year - Takehiko Wakayama, President & CEO, Asset Investors Co Ltd - based on a poll conducted with top executives throughout the Asia Pacific region
o Malaysia CEO of the Year - Francis Yeoh, Managing Director, YTL Corporation Berhad - named for his vision and ability to steer his company successfully in his home country and in the global marketplace. 

ABLA is the region's most prestigious awards programme of its kind that honours and recognises the most outstanding personalities in business. With Kuala Lumpur as the host venue this year, ABLA 2005 marks the culmination of a year-long, three-phase judging process which began with the selection of close to 6,500 companies across Asia.

The winners are selected based on ABLA's unique three-phase judging process:

• Phase One - A dedicated team from the Awards' Knowledge Partner University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) Asia Campus shortlisted semi-finalists based on four performance measures - Sales Growth, Operating Margin, Earnings Before Interest (EBIT) Per Employee and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) - sourced from industry databases. 

• Phase Two - Entailed face-to-face interviews with the semi-finalists by Development Dimensions International, Research Partner of the Asia Business Leader Awards 2005. 

• Phase Three - Transcripts of the interviews with all the semi-finalists were presented to a 14-member regional judging panel consisting of world-respected management strategists, academics and corporate personalities, who selected the winners. 

The judging panel is led by Professor Mark E Zmijewski, Dean of Executive MBA programs, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB). Other members of the panel include Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia, Professor Suchada Kiranandana, President of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, Kyong Shik Kang, Former Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea, and Phillip Overmyer, Executive Director of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.

Alexander P Brown, President & CEO, CNBC Asia Pacific, said: "As the undisputed world leader in business news, CNBC is proud to be presenting the prestigious Asia Business Leader Awards for the fourth time. The Asia Business Leader Awards recognise successful local business leaders who have demonstrated dynamic leadership and effective management as they steer their companies towards continued growth. I congratulate all the winners and finalists who have made it after a stringent elimination process that seen the number of finalists come down to 37 from a starting list of over 6,500 companies across the region. That is an achievement in itself."

Professor Mark E Zmijewski, Dean of Executive MBA programs, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Lead Judge, said: "The ABLA 2005 recognises business leaders who have successfully steered their companies on the path to success by inspiring their employees to confront today's business challenges and by preparing them to identify and capture the opportunities that await them in this era of globalisation. These outstanding business leaders know the value of keeping abreast of the latest innovations in business management to create and execute new business models that adjust to the ever-changing business environment. ABLA 2005 salutes those leaders throughout Asia who have effectively energised their companies to seize opportunities, laid the foundation for strong corporate governance, and developed a healthy corporate culture and community."

ABLA is presented by:

CNBC Asia Pacific
CNBC is the undisputed world leader in business news and information, providing viewers the world over with insight, analysis and real-time access to market data and indispensable business information. CNBC Asia Pacific is uniquely positioned to speak to viewers from across the region. Headquartered in Singapore, the network provides 10 hours of live Asia-produced programming, which is complemented with coverage of live market action from Europe and the US. CNBC Asia Pacific's channels, which include CNBC Asia, CNBC-TV18 (India), Nikkei-CNBC (Japan) are available in more than 36 million homes across the Asia Pacific region. CNBC Asia Pacific also has a strategic alliance with China Business Network, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Media Group. The channels are distributed via satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks as well as on the mobile platform in selected markets. For more information, visit www.cnbcasia.com and www.cnbcasia.com/mobile.

Associate Sponsors:
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier of Malaysia, is recognised as one of Asia's largest, flying more than 48,000 passengers to over 110 destinations across 6 continents every day. Currently operating 111 aircraft, Malaysia Airlines' fleet is one of the world's youngest, dominated by Boeing 737s, 747s and 777s, the most technically advanced aircraft in the sky today.

Malaysia Airlines holds a lengthy record of service and best practice excellence, having received more than 100 awards in the last 10 years. It was the first airline to win the "World's Best Cabin Crew" award by Skytrax UK for four consecutive years from 2001 to 2004. It was also recently rated "5-star airline" by Skytrax. For more information, visit www.malaysiaairlines.com.

Oracle
Oracle's business is information - how to manage it, use it, share it, protect it. For nearly three decades, Oracle, the world's largest enterprise software company, has provided the software and services that let organizations get the most up-to-date and accurate information from their business systems. Several Oracle customers around the world have improved their ability to use information and IT as strategic assets and are now able to share data and processes, measure results for continuous improvement, align stakeholders, and communicate a single truth to all their constituents.

Heidrick & Struggles
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. is the world's premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including talent management, board building, executive on-boarding and M&A effectiveness. For more than 50 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationship with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles leadership experts operate from principal business centers in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit www.heidrick.com.

Knowledge Partner:
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) Asia Campus
Founded in 1898, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) is a Nobel Prize-winning powerhouse. It is recognized globally for producing world-changing ideas and extremely well prepared graduates.

Chicago GSB is known for its world-renowned faculty, which includes more Nobel Prize winners than all other business schools in the world combined. It is also the first business school to have a Nobel Laureate on its faculty and is also the first and only business school to have had 6 Nobel Prize winning faculty members.

The GSB is also the first business school to offer a Ph.D. program in Business back in 1920. And it is also the first to offer an Executive MBA program back in 1943.

The Chicago GSB Asia campus in Singapore, which opened five years ago, attracts executives throughout Asia and other countries to its Executive MBA program. The part-time Executive MBA program prepares high-potential managers and experienced professionals for positions of greater responsibility. The program includes joint residential sessions in London, Chicago and Singapore with students from all three campuses that are fully owned by the GSB. The Executive MBA program offered in the Asia campus (in Singapore) is exactly the same program offered in the London and Chicago campuses and is taught by the same faculty who teaches in all GSB programs.

The GSB supports an active network of more than 39,000 alumni around the globe. These graduates lead and succeed in every possible industry including some 5,500 CEOs and top officers of firms worldwide.

Research Partner:
Development Dimensions International
DDI is a human resource consulting company specializing in leadership development. DDI was established in 1970 by two organizational psychologists William C. Byham, PhD. And Douglas W. Bray PhD.

DDI has helped to train and develop more than 10 million leaders in organizations worldwide. More than 15 million people have benefited from participation in one or more of DDI's leadership training or assessment systems. Their newly acquired skills have influenced the work lives of more than 200 million employees. 

For more than three decades in Asia, DDI has worked closely with numerous multinational corporations, who count on its local consultants' understanding of local cultural and business practices to provide consistent worldwide applications of its solutions.

Today, close to one third of DDI's business is done outside of North America through its network of 75 offices in 26 countries. In Asia, DDI has operations in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Official Hotel: Hilton Kuala Lumpur

Media Partners: Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal Asia

Official Broadcast Partner: Astro