Twelve individuals — considered to be Jamaica’s most exemplary corporate executives — will be celebrated at the Jamaica Observer Business Leader Award and banquet on Sunday, December 10 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

There are three women and nine men in the group of nominees; one of them will be named Business Leader: Corporate Steward at the climax of the gala presentation that will begin at 6:00 pm. The formal presentation will be preceded at 4:30 by a cocktail reception.

According to the programme founder and chairman of the award selection committee, Moses Jackson, this year is the most competitive in the 20 stagings of the annual event.

“This year we turned the spotlight on some of the most transformative corporate executives in generations,” said Jackson. “These nominees for the award are running companies that collectively manage assets that are equivalent in value to the size of Jamaica’s GDP, which is some $2 trillion, and employ more than 20,000 individuals.”

This year’s award is unique in that it is the first time since the programme took its current entrepreneurial bias that executives of companies, rather than the owners themselves, are being celebrated.

The nominees are drawn from a wide range of sectors — tourism, business process outsourcing, financial services, and a conglomerate. They are among the most profitable companies and the country’s most recognisable brands.

Nine of the 12 nominees run companies that are listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Three executives are in charge of companies that are not listed on the local exchange. They are: Josef Forstmayr, the managing director of Round Hill Hotel in Hanover; Odetta Rockhead-Kerr, the head of Sutherland Global in Jamaica; and Peter Moses, the former head of Citibank in Jamaica.

The stories on all 12 nominees have already been published by the Jamaica Observer and can be found on its website via a Business Leader link carried below the masthead of the paper each day.

The full list of nominees:

• Marlene Street-Forrest, managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange;

• Christopher Williams, president and CEO of PROVEN;

• Gary Peart, CEO of Mayberry Investments

• Patrick Hylton, CEO of NCB Group;

• Richard Byles, chairman and former CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica

• Jeffrey Hall, CEO of Jamaica Producers Group;

• Sharon Donaldson, managing director of General Accident Insurance Co Ja Ltd

• Don Wehby, CEO of GraceKennedy Group;

• Earl Jarrett, CEO of Jamaica National Group

• Odetta Rockhead-Kerr, country head of Sutherland Global;

• Josef Fortsmayr, managing director of Round hill Hotel; and

• Peter Moses, retired head of Citibank in Jamaica.