M&C Saatchi boss Jaimes Leggett and Atomic 212’s CEO Jason Dooris have been nominated for Australian CEO of 2015 by The CEO Magazine. The media duo are up against six other high profile CEOs for the title.

Leggett is also nominated in the media executive category which also includes Peter Bosilkovski the managing director at Leo Burnett, Barry O’Brien the chairman at Atomic 212 and Luke Littlefield the CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network.

The winners will be announced in Sydney on the 25th of November.

The top award – CEO of the year – not only features Leggett and Dooris but Vaughn Rictor CEO of ING Direct, Christine Holgate the CEO of Blackmores, Robert Bernard Kelly CEO of the Steadfast Group, David Dicker CEO of Dicker Data, Gilman Wong CEO of Sirtex Medical and Radek Sali CEO of Swisse Wellness.

Chris Dutton, CEO and Founder of The CEO Magazine, said of the annual awards: “We are very proud that the Australian business community continues to embrace our Awards. Each year, we aim to recognise new opportunities for the program and this year we will be recognising finalists in the new ‘Start-up Executive of the Year’ category.

“With new ideas and businesses launching every year and spanning every industry, this category is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the individual with big dreams and smart plans. Australia needs to improve to help foster start-ups and this award will bring recognition to entrepreneurs here.”

The full list of Award Categories and Finalists are as follows:

• Media Executive of the Year
• Transport and Logistics Executive of the Year
• IT and Telecommunications Executive of the Year
• Health and Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year
• Hospitality and Tourism Executive of the Year
• Energy and Resources Executive of the Year
• Construction Executive of the Year
• Innovation and Design Executive of the Year
• Retail Executive of the Year
• Financial Services Executive of the Year
• Executive Assistant of the Year
• Young Executive of the Year
• Not for Profit Executive of the Year
• Start-up Executive of the Year
• Sales Executive of the Year
• Marketing Executive of the Year
• HR Executive of the Year
• CIO of the Year
• CFO of the Year
• Managing Director of the Year
• Chairperson of the Year
• CEO of the Year (major award)