Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, has been chosen the Chief Executive Magazine CEO of the Year for 2023. AlixPartners chief talent officer and managing director Ted Bililies leads a selection committee made up of former winners and current CEO-level leaders to pick who receives the award.
Since Bastian took over as CEO in May 2016, Delta has won a slew of accolades. These include being named the best airline in the United States by The Wall Street Journal, the most on-time airline in the world by FlightGlobal, the recipient of Cirium’s Platinum Award for operational excellence, a spot on TIME100’s list of the 100 most influential companies, and a Glassdoor Best Place to Work.
For the last 12 years running, and for seven of those years while Bastian has been at the helm, Delta has been voted the best airline by business travellers in Business Travel News’ annual Airline Survey.
Bastian joins an elite group of chief executive officers in the tourism sector as recipients of this prestigious award. He follows in the footsteps of other honorees Arne Sorenson (Marriott International) in 2019; Herb Kelleher (Southwest) in 1999; and J. Willard Marriott, Jr. (Marriott Corporation) in 1988.
The award has been given annually since 1986 by Chief Executive Magazine.
