For the fourth consecutive year, Gary Loveman, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Harrah’s Entertainment, was named „Best CEO“ in the gaming and lodging industry by Institutional Investor magazine.

„Although awards such as these are bestowed upon individual executives, credit for this honor truly lies with my 85,000 hard-working, dedicated colleagues at Harrah’s,“ Loveman said.

CEOs in 62 industries were honored in this year’s competition, including Frederick Smith, FedEx Corp.; Robert Iger, Walt Disney Co.; Arthur Levinson, Genentech; Lawrence Ellison, Oracle Corp.; Edward Zander, Motorola; Steven Ballmer, Microsoft Corp.; and John Chambers, Cisco Systems.

„If merely keeping a job is a notable achievement for today’s CEOs, outperforming peers is an even bigger accomplishment,“ the magazine said. „And continuing to do so at an elite level year after year is a feat that none but the most talented chiefs can pull off.“

Selections were based on the votes of more than 1,000 analysts and portfolio managers. Respondents were asked to name the top CEOs in the sectors for which they had responsibility. Loveman has been honored by Institutional Investor each year since he assumed the office of CEO in 2003.