The 10 Best CEOs of the Past 10 Years, Part 3

The quality of a CEO can make or break a company. At the same time, however, determining the precise value of a CEO's contribution to his or her company is easier said than done. That's where Chiefist.com, a new member-based service, comes in. It analyzes data on CEO compensation and company performance and then ranks companies according to management quality. What follows, in turn, is the third in a series of three Chiefist screens aimed at identifying the 10 best CEOs over the past decade.

In our first screen, we looked at the best CEOs according to share-price appreciation. In the second screen, we looked at the best CEOs according to market-capitalization growth. And in this screen, we'll look at the S&P 500's 10 best CEOs according to Chiefist's Business Value Enhancement Metric.

The BVEM is the creme de la creme of Chiefist's proprietary ranking formulas. Unlike the previous two screens, which focused on single metrics, the BVEM incorporates multiple quantifiable metrics of value creation in order to provide a more thorough picture of executive performance. Among other things, an executive's BVEM score includes margin expansion, earnings-per-share growth, return on equity, and growth in book value.

So without further ado:

Rank	CEO	Company	Industry	2010  Compensation	BVEM  Score
1	Steve Jobs*	Apple	IT Hardware	$1	2.55
2	Tim Solso	Cummins (NYSE: CMI  )	Heavy Equipment	$9,111,727	9.20
3	John McAdam	F5 Networks (Nasdaq: FFIV  )	IT Hardware	$8,884,962	15.20
4	Michael Mussallem	Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW  )	Health-Care Equipment	$5,829,018	16.35
5	John Martin	Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD  )	Pharmaceuticals/ Biotechnology	$14,244,388	17.60
6	Lew Frankfort	Coach (NYSE: COH  )	Apparel, Accessories, and Luxury Goods	$13,739,110	19.35
7	J. Brett Harvey	CONSOL Energy (NYSE: CNX  )	Metals and Mining	$20,157,821	19.35
8	Michael McCallister	Humana (NYSE: HUM  )	Insurance	$6,147,917	19.35
9	Jeff Bezos	Amazon.com	E-Commerce	$1,681,840	25.35
10	Merrill Miller	National Oilwell Varco	Energy Exploration	$9,250,871	25.55

Source: Chiefist.com.  
*Although Steve Jobs is no longer Apple's CEO, I deemed it appropriate to include him on the list.

Foolish bottom line
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