Algorithm anoints Hanna as top CEO

Howard “Hoddy” Hanna III of O’Hara-based Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the region’s top-rated CEO.

That’s according to the algorithm gurus at Owler, which manages an online forum where it collects intelligence from more than 1 million business professionals and sells it to companies that want to know what customers think of them and the competition. The San Mateo, Calif., company says the only bigger “community-based business insights platform” is LinkedIn.

Mr. Hanna’s 99.9 Owler ranking beat out the 99.1 rating earned by Charlie Watkins, CEO of Expedient, a North Side IT services provider, and the 90.4 score Owler users gave to Thomas J. Costa, CEO of ShowClix, a Downtown online ticket seller.

Luis von Ahn (90.3) of Duolingo, an East Liberty-based language software supplier, and Harbinder Khera (88.1) of Mindmatrix, a South Side supplier of marketing and sales software, round out the Top 5.

Owler’s city and national CEO rankings are based on more than 250,000 votes by members of the platform, which include employees, competitors and others. CEOs had to receive a minimum number of votes to make the lists. In case of ties, the chief executive with the most votes got the higher ranking. That explains why of the 54 executives nationwide rated at 99.9, Mr. Hanna ranked only 11th on the national list.

Theminimum vote requirement left William M. Lambert, CEO of MSA Safety in Cranberry, outof the Top 15 in Pittsburgh. If Mr. Lambert had enough votes to qualify, his 83.4 rating would have placed him 15th on the regional list.

CEOs of large public companies based in Pittsburgh that made the regional Top 15 are: Jay L. Schottenstein of American Eagle Outfitters (69.1); PNC Financial Services’ William S. Demchak (66.4); Robert F. Moran of GNC Holdings (63.1); Allegheny Technologies’ Richard J. Harshman (62.4); PPG’s Michael H. McGarry (44.5); and John J. Engel of Wesco International (28.4).

Among CEOs of large privately