Dale Dean, chief executive officer of DeanHouston, Inc., a business-to-business integrated marketing communications firm, has been named a CEO of the Year finalist in the inaugural C-Suite Awards that honor top executives in Greater Cincinnati whose skills and leadership have helped shape the success of their companies and served the community.

Dean was selected as finalist for the award based on his numerous years of inspirational leadership, dedicated perseverance, creativity, ingenuity and community service as CEO of DeanHouston, which he co-founded in 1988.

A total of 37 finalists from major private, public and non-profit organizations were named in five categories, which include chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief marketing officer and chief legal officer.

Sponsored by the Cincinnati Business Courier, the C-Suite Awards will name the winners at an awards program on Thursday, August 27 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH.

In addition to Dean’s C-Suite Awards honor, DeanHouston has received a number of top awards since 2012:

  • Three-year recipient of the Fast 55 award in recognition of their performance as one of the fastest growing private companies in the 17-county region of Greater Cincinnati.
  • Has earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest growing privately held companies for three years running.
  • Won the top private business award in the “16- to 50-years-in-business” category from the Goering Center for Family and Private Business Award, sponsored annually by the University of Cincinnati College of Business. More than 570 companies were nominated in 2014. Only six companies received top awards.
  • Won the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Cincinnati and Columbus’s 2014 Seize Hope Corporate Award for its community service work.
  • Earned American Marketing Association Pinnacle Awards for its work on behalf of the Epilepsy Foundation and The Rainmaker Group.

Established June 15, 1988, DeanHouston is currently Cincinnati’s 13th largest advertising-marketing-branding agency, according to the Business Courier’s latest rankings. The company also has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Shanghai, China. Since 2008, ironically at the height of the Great Recession, DeanHouston has grown its employee and revenue base by 260 percent and 316 percent, respectively.