The makeup of Businessuite magazines list of top 10 CEOs is essentially a yearbook, a who’s who, of the business and industry elite in Jamaica. The names on The List represent half of the top 20 companies in Jamaica as judged by increases in after tax profits.

To compile the list, the Businessuite News Centre (BNC) publishers of the Businessuite magazine poured over the 2009 annual reports of Jamaica’s publicly listed companies to find the CEO’s who are generating the most after tax profits for their shareholders and building shareholder values year over year. As previously done for 05, 06, 07 and 08, CEO’s companies much accrue at least JA$300 million in after tax profits to qualify for The List.

While such giants as Sagicor  Life Jamaica,  Carreras Ltd, Lascelles deMercado & CO. Limited,  And Jamaica Money Market Brokers dominated the top of the corporate ranks in terms of  overall profits,  their CEOs failed to make the 2010 list. The List is also noteworthy for the impressive executives whose names have never graced it. Warren McDonald of Berger Paints, Geoff Houston of Cable & Wireless(JA)Ltd, Ryland T. Campbell of Capital and Credit Financial Group, Errol Campbell of Ciboney Group Limited, and Clovis Metcalfe of First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB) have all been on the outside looking in for the past five years

As The List demonstrates, CEOs are ranked not by size of the profits but by the size of  the year to year increases, which, given the current economic climate, demonstrates their ability to get results under fiscally adverse circumstances. That is what boards of directors and shareholders demand from CEOs. That is the one thing all these CEOs have in common.

Top of the heap is Christopher Williams, now former managing director of NCB Capital Markets. In what may be a one-off or a solitary appearance for a while, Williams is ranked No. 1 on the strength of  a $1.7 billion increase in net profits, a staggering 121 percent jump over the previous year.  Those results were released shortly before Williams announced his plans to leave NCB Capital Markets for a startup venture, Proven Management Limited, for which he is president and CEO.

Meanwhile, Anya Schnoor, CEO of Scotia DBG Investments Ltd kept her impressive performance but was nudged to No. 2 in 2010 even though her company saw its 2009 profits increased by 72 percent over 2008. It would be surprising if  Schnoor  didn’t make a serious claim for top dog in Jamaica’s corporate boardroom. Again, she is the only female CEO on the list.

Bryon Thompson, CEO and managing director of  the Seprod Group of companies, makes an audacious return to The List at No. 3, two years since his most recent appearance. He was similarly ranked No. 3 in 2007 and was ranked two year earlier. Thompson, whose company manufactures consumer products, has not made The List in consecutive years since its inception.

Douglas Orane, CEO of GraceKennedy Ltd., the Jamaica trading company, also returns to the list at No. 4 after a two-year absence, when he was also ranked in 2007. GraceKennedy saw a  52 percent jump in profits in 2009 over the prior year.

Desnoes & Geddes Ltd.’s (RED STRIPE) former managing director Mark McKenzie and his successor Alan Barnes enter The List at No. 5 in a year when the beverage company sold less beer domestically but cashed 49 percent higher profits thanks largely to favorable exchange rates and healthy exports.

No. 6 on The List John Gourzong is best known to Jamaicans as the founding director of Summerfest, the annual Montego Bay music spectacle. However, Gourzong debuts on The List as No. 6 largely on the strength of Montego Bay Freeport’s $361,798 million jump in profits, which presents a 27.25 percent increase in profits over the previous year. The profits stem from selling property but given the uncertainty of the entity, of which the Jamaican government controls a majority stake, the future is uncertain.

Canadian-born banker Bruce F. Bowen, president and CEO of The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Ltd., sits on the list ranked at No. 7 thanks largely to his company’s  21 percent increase in profits over the previous year.  A year earlier, Bowen shared similar honors with this William “Bill” Clarke, the man whom he replaced.

Stephen B. Facey, chief executive officer, president and director of Pan Jamaican Investment Trust Ltd, saw profits climb by $1.93 billion in 2009, a 19.7 percent jump over 2008. That performance was good enough to land Facey at No. 8 on The List. The company better known as Pan Jam derives most of its revenue from property management in Kingston and minority investment stakes in other companies. Facey, who has been in the business for more than quarter century, just failed to make the top ten list a year earlier but has rebounded along with the company’s fortunes. His father, Maurice, is chairman of the board.

Patrick Hylton maintains his streak as the only CEO to make The List every year since its introduction in 2005. That streak coincided with five straight years of increasing profits at National Commercial Bank Jamaica. However, Hylton slid to No. 9 on The List despite an unprecedented $10.2 billion in profits for 2009. Those numbers represent an 18 percent jump in profits over 2008.

Brian George, the Trinidadian born president and CEO of Supreme Ventures Ltd., rounds out The List at No. 10. It is his third consecutive year ranked among the best performing CEOs. He entered The List at No. 2 in 2007, dropped one place to  No. 3 in 2008 before sliding seven places this year in part due to Supreme Ventures’ $751,202 million in profits, which represents a 16.2 percent increase over 2008. In 2009, profits rose as the lottery and gaming company introduced new offerings such as the multi-jurisdictional Super Lotto, which is the first game of its kind in the Caribbean and Latin America.

So the results are in. Ten CEOs have proved their worth to shareholders once again. But if it’s one thing The List has proven is that past performance is no guarantee of future results. The corporate landscape is littered with fired CEOs, who were unable to maintain higher profit margins. Given the sluggish global economy and the unenthusiastic consumer demand, that challenge is harder to meet. On the other hand, it makes an appearance on The List even more special.