Richard Byles (centre), chairman and former CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica, is presented with the Jamaica Observer Business Leader 2017 trophy by the newspaper’s Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart (right) and his son, Adam, who is the newspaper’s deputy chairman and CEO, last night at the awards banquet at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)
Richard Byles, chairman and former CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica, was last night named Jamaica Observer Business Leader 2017, topping a field of 12 of the island’s top chief executive officers which Award Selection Committee Chairman Moses Jackson described as “an embarrassment of riches” and which gave the committee a tough time to arrive at a decision.
In fact, so difficult was the selection committee’s task that they first had to select a top four, then narrow the choices to a top two, using a series of key performance data of the companies run by the nominees.
“All 12 nominees for the Business Leader: Corporate Steward Award not only meet, but far exceed the most fundamental rule for consideration for this singular accolade — that first and foremost they must be the steward of a company or companies that have produced sustainable profits over time,” Jackson said in his report to the packed Jamaica Pegasus hotel ballroom.
Jackson reported that in order to effectively manage the selection process, he directed the committee members to each name their top four executives. “The nominees who polled a plurality of support from the committee members are those who made it into the final group of four from which the Business Leader was named,” Jackson wrote.
He explained that return on equity, return on assets, profit, and its trajectory over time were the quantifiable data considered in the committee’s attempt to separate the candidates.
“Other important tangible and non-tangible factors were brought to bear on the decision. These considerations were distilled through a series of questions that the chairman posed to committee members to focus their collective minds,” Jackson added.
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