CEOs appear to be emerging from recession mode and priming for a return to growth, according to results of The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2010 Survey.

"Both the year-on-year movement and rank order of challenges suggest that CEOs' focus has moved from crisis reaction to preparations for recovery," said Jonathan Spector, CEO of The Conference Board. "Clearly, CEOs in the United States in particular are returning their focus to the road to growth. We're seeing a similar trend in the overall business questions we capture from our members."

Each year, The Conference Board CEO Challenge Survey asks hundreds of senior executives to identify and rate their most pressing concerns and publishes the results in the CEO Challenge Top 10 report.

Production of the 2008 report was stopped and the survey refielded in late 2008 in response to the exploding global financial crisis. Nearly 200 CEOs, chairmen, and company presidents updated their responses, offering a unique "pre" and "post" insight: with no control over a turbulent global economy, CEOs retrained their sights onto "bread and butter" survival issues, while longer-term challenges, especially in talent management, were de-emphasized.

"In that late 2008 survey, worries about global economic performance, business confidence, geofinancial instability, and integrity of capital markets leapt up into CEOs' Top 10, and each has now dropped at least 10 places," said Linda Barrington, managing director of human capital at The Conference Board and one of the report's authors. "This year, all the challenges that jumped into the Top 10 in the crisis have now jumped back out."

The critical issues of excellence in execution and consistent execution of strategy by top management have consistently remained at the top of the list. But in the latest survey (which was fielded October-December 2009), such growth-oriented challenges as sustained and steady top-line growth, customer loyalty/retention, and profit growth received higher ratings as "greatest concerns." Also moving up were corporate reputation for quality products/services, and stimulating innovation/creativity/enabling entrepreneurship.

"CEOs' focus on these challenges suggests that recession-weary customers need to be wooed with significant new value to win back their business," Barrington added.

The challenge of government regulation also made significant leaps in the United States (from 19th place to 6th) and in Europe (from 28th place to 6th), particularly in the financial services industry.

"U.S. and European CEOs are bracing for the potential regulatory aftermath of the near collapse of the global financial system and the associated recession," Spector said.