CEO of the YEAR 2018.

• Position: CEO of the Year

It's true: it can be lonely at the top. But the CEOs honored in these pages don't believe in isolation--they use their leadership to bring together teams, to support and mentor junior executives, and to reach into the community. While being the one to make tough decisions is, at times, painfully difficult, our 12 CEO of the Year recipients take a collaborative approach in order to ensure their decisions have the support of company leaders and employees all through the ranks. Join us in paying tribute to these remarkable chief executives.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

JOHN B. LUND

PRESIDENT & CEO, AMERICA FIRST CREDIT UNION

John Lund took a job at America First Credit Union in 1975--and never left. He began working as a clerk for the credit union while he was in school, but stayed after graduation. There were always opportunities to learn new things, he says, and he steadily advanced up through the organization. Lund was named president and CEO in 2012.

That longevity and commitment to the organization is apparent in Lund's passion for what he calls the credit union's purpose: "Our purpose is to help individuals and families achieve financial wellbeing. We feel it's very important to promote financial literacy and understanding and responsibility," he says. "We want to create a long-term, lasting relationship with our members. And that purpose is very, very satisfying to me."

America First aims to build "lifetime" relationships with its members, says Lund. "We take a long-term perspective on our success. We're not just trying to meet a quarterly number or a yearly number."

That long-term perspective has propelled the credit union to a dominant position. With 125 branches in Utah and Nevada, it boasts over 918,000 members. It's the No. 1 credit union in Utah, and it's the 10th largest credit union in the nation in terms of assets, says Lund, and the sixth largest in terms of membership.

One reason for that success is the credit union's commitment to staying at the forefront of tech innovation. America First was only the second credit union in the nation to launch Apple Pay. It also developed a security tool called Card Guard, which gives members control over when and how their credit, debit or ATM cards are used. Over half a million America First members use online banking, and 350,000 members use mobile banking.

"John has a good technological background, and I think he is able to communicate with the techies of the organization and those of us who are not quite so technologically adept. John can simplify technical concepts and make them easier to understand," says James Wendler, chair of the board of America First Credit Union.

Lund was an executive vice president when Wendler first joined the board 25 years ago, so Wendler has a deep perspective on Lund's leadership at America First.

"John is recognized by my fellow board members as one of the most valuable assets the credit union has," says Wendler. "He has an innate ability to pick the right people to do the right job. John is an excellent motivator of people. I think that comes from the fact that John is very trustworthy. People like John; people trust John.... He's a person of high integrity."

LARGE COMPANY

SCOTT BECK

PRESIDENT & CEO, CHG HEALTHCARE

For most of his life, Scott Beck thought he would follow in his oncologist father's footsteps and become a doctor. At the University of Utah, Beck took some marketing and business classes and fell in love with entrepreneurship instead--but he never stopped wanting to work with physicians and in healthcare. Beck went to work at CHG Healthcare in 1999, a company that recruits and places healthcare providers in areas they are most needed, and served as CMO, group president, COO--and finally, CEO.

CHG Healthcare has thrived under Beck's leadership. It has expanded internationally, surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, and placed 14,000 providers across the country and internationally, in every state and specialty and in five foreign countries. This has provided healthcare to over 26 million people, says Beck, and is an achievement he takes particular pride in.

Also impressive is CHG's employee retention rate: 84 percent, far above the 50 percent average for the healthcare industry. Beck attributes that loyalty to the fact that, at CHG Healthcare, employees are first--even above customers.

"My personal philosophy is that if we do a really good job of taking care of our people, our people will reward us by staying with us and taking really good care of our customers," says Beck. "I think a lot of companies look at it the other way--it's all about profits and customers. I'm happy to tell our customers that our employees are more important than they are, because they're actually the ones that serve our customers."

Beck says he didn't realize the importance of people and culture until after getting his MBA--"nobody talked about building a connection with purpose," he says--and began working. It was then he realized that creating a work environment built on "trust and helping people reach their full potential" is what leads to the best success.

For example, during the Great Recession, Beck says the company brought employees together in small groups to brainstorm about how to "tighten our belt and save resources ... so that we could keep the family together." After the recession, Beck saw the return on CHG's investment in taking care of their employees by how many stayed with the company and helped it grow through its expansion.

"I think it really cemented this idea that putting people first isn't just something we say or an emblem on the wall, but it's something we believe and we use it to guide the decisions that we make inside of CHG," he says.

MEDIUM COMPANY

JIM CARLSON

CEO & CO-FOUNDER, ZURIXX

After years of helping start and grow several other businesses--in industries ranging from multimedia publishing to financial sales--Jim Carlson and a business partner, Jeff Spangler, decided to start a new venture in the financial education industry. It's an industry that is "focused on teaching people how to be successful and how to create a legacy for their families," says Carlson. "You are surrounded by so many good people that are truly trying to improve students' lives. The ability to come in to work every day and watch people change their lives for the better is a rewarding experience, and why I initially started in this industry."

Since Zurixx's founding in April 2012, Carlson took on the role of CEO and has never looked back. The company has received nine recognitions over the past two years for exponential revenue growth, including being named the No. 1 fastest-growing company in Utah Business Fast 50, and the No. 43 fastest-growing company of the Inc. 500 in 2016 with $130.1 million in revenue.

As Zurixx enters a new phase after five years of rapid growth, Carlson feels excited about the company's future--and that of its employees. Carlson makes sure that Zurixx isn't just focused and invested in its students' futures, but that it's also invested in its employees. "Jim's very good at taking...