The rocky path to success.

• Author: Stewart, Heather Dawn
• Position: Editor's Desk - Editorial

Welcome to our March 2016 issue. This month we have three features that tell the compelling stories of intrepid entrepreneurs and leaders. One of them is our annual Companies to Watch feature, which profiles four companies to describe how and why they were launched--and, more importantly, where they are headed. That feature begins on page 52.

Our cover story, of course, is our 2016 CEO of the Year feature. We have a truly remarkable panel of honorees this year, representing a range of industries and companies of all sizes, both public and private. Their stories are unique and illuminating, highlighting the challenges and triumphs that come with leading a business. For example, Lew Cramer, CEO of CBC Advisors, travelled a twisting path from the legal profession, to public service in the Reagan Administration and back into the private sector. Richard Hunt, founder and CEO of Hunt Electric, headed a moderately successful contracting company for nearly two decades--and then watched its growth skyrocket as he focused on developing a new generation of leaders within the company. You can read all of their stories beginning on page 66.

The cover pictured here is from 2001, and it promises to reveal what CEOs "would have done differently." In the story, one of the interviewees, Erik Watts of Jas. D. Easton, Inc., said he would have focused...