Letter from the publisher. (Business Hall of Fame).

IT is with tremendous pride that we at the Los Angeles Business Journal launch our first annual Business Hall of Fame Awards on March 19th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The presentation will include the selection of Kent Kresa, chairman and chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., as businessperson of the year and the awarding of 13 Industry Leadership Awards that recognize excellence in specific fields.

The awards also serve as a kind of thank you to each of the nominated professionals and their organizations for providing so many business success stories. Stories of garage-based entrepreneurial start-ups blossoming into multi-million dollar entities or representatives of major corporations who led teams to regional success in Los Angeles.

Whatever the story, there are many of them--each with the ability to create innovative solutions to common problems, such as down markets, tenacious competition and shifting trends. In short, these business leaders have what it takes to survive and excel regardless of economic conditions.

You could imagine, then, just how hard it has been for an outside selection committee of our presenting sponsors to single out the local businesspeople to induct into this year's Business Hall of Fame.

This very special advertising supplement to the Los Angeles Business Journal provides brief snapshots of the 200 nominees we considered for the Hall of Fame--each a champion in his or her own right. The entries are grouped by industry and arranged alphabetically. (While many of the nominees originate from our "2001 Lists" publication, no portion of this program or the selection process involved the Business Journal editorial department)

By appearing in the pages of this issue, we salute these special Angelenos and their companies who have become leaders of their respective industries and whose contributions each business day helps in no small way to make Los Angeles great!