• Open Nominations: The magazine invites nominations from the public, encouraging submissions that highlight CEOs who have led their companies to success on local, regional, national, and international levels.

• Submission Details: Nominations typically require a description of the CEO's vision, achievements, business philosophy, employee relations, management style, and special qualities. Additionally, the company's number of employees is often requested to categorize nominees appropriately.

Judging Panel: An impartial panel reviews the nominations to select winners. While specific details about the panel's composition are not publicly disclosed, it generally comprises individuals with expertise in business and leadership.

Evaluation Criteria: Nominees are assessed based on their vision, achievements, business philosophy, employee relations, management style, and unique qualities that distinguish them from their peers.

Once winners are selected, they are notified and interviewed for a feature in Memphis magazine. An event is typically held to honor the award recipients.

David was honored with these awards in both 2020 and 2022. This award is for the period of one calendar year from January 1 - December 31 of each year.

The Most Admired CEO rankings are published by Nashville Business Journal, an independent company unaffiliated with Waddell & Associates.

The Most Admired CEOs Awards honor the leaders who are shining examples of how all companies should be run and managed. 

Eligibility:
- Nominees must be local and:
- Be a CEO or equivalent at a local company or organization.
- Nominees can be the top local executives of national companies.
- Both nominee and nominees' companies must be headquartered or have major operations in the 10-county Nashville area that includes Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties.
- Most Admired CEO honorees from 2012-2021 are eligible for the 2022 awards program. 

Process:
- NBJ takes nominations from the public.
- From these nominations, an internal committee culls the list. Next, there will be private voting for nominees to vote on each other. Each category will have a voting period in which nominees will vote only on their specific category and the Lifetime Achievement category. This process was designed to determine who truly is most admired by their peers.
- After all voting is closed and due diligence is completed, the Nashville Business Journal announces the winners in each category.

Most Admired CEO rankings are determined by the independent outlet unaffiliated with Waddell & Associates. Information from these sources is deemed to be reliable, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

Waddell & Associates did not pay to be included in this ranking.

Working with a ranked advisor should be evaluated properly and has no correlation to investment results. Working with a highly-ranked advisor does not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. Third-party rankings are no guarantee of future investment success or performance. This ranking is conducted by a third-party provider and is not meant to serve as an endorsement for Waddell & Associates. Rankings should not be considered an endorsement of the wealth manager by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. Provided for informational purposes only.