CNBC is reporting that Warren Buffet is the winner of Morningstar's CEO of the Year award. Runner up is John Allison of BB&T Corp. From Morningstar's press release at the nomination stage.

It may seem odd to nominate a bank CEO after all the trouble that imprudent lending has caused to our financial system, but John Allison, BB&T's retiring CEO, is a worthy candidate. During his tenure, he has used the combination of conservative underwriting with timely expansion to create a Southeast banking giant. With an intense focus on culture, Allison's personality and ethics are ingrained throughout the organization.

Allison's conservatism shined strongly in the past year's dismal banking environment. While BB&T has not been immune to the problems, its strong capital position and underwriting standards have helped tremendously. In the first nine months of 2008, earnings declined only 9% from the same period in 2007, and in a landscape of dividend cuts, Allison actually increased BB&T's dividend slightly.

BB&T could post these kind of results because losses at its peers were 50% higher than BB&T's. The bank's resilience has largely come from Allison's ability to portray BB&T as a safe haven for its customers, helping the bank to soak up deposits and profitable small and mid-sized business clients from its troubled peers at a rapid rate, as well as Allison's long-term efforts to enter the insurance brokerage business, which now accounts for 14.5% of total revenues. Most important of all, Allison's focus on the company's culture and his close relationship with his fellow managers have assured us that even though he will retire at the end of the year, BB&T's conservatism will remain its backbone and, we believe, will help reward shareholders for years to come.