Alex Molinoroli: Johnson Controls Chairman & CEO

Alex Molinoroli was born on October 7, 1957, in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Southern Carolina, graduating in 1983. He later earned a Master of Science in business from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. 

Alex joined Johnson Controls in 1983. He held increasing level of responsibilities for controls systems and services sales and operations, and was Vice President and General Manager for North America Systems and Middle East for building efficiency business. 

He championed the development of consistent and effective sales management disciplines within Johnson Controls and has worked to expand that consistent approach on a global basis, involving more than 300 sales offices in close to 50 countries and was promoted to vice president and general manager for the  North American Systems business. 

Eventually in July 2013, the company announced he would become CEO on October 1, and Chairman of the Board of the company on January 1, 2014. 

Johnson Controls, Inc. is a global diversified technology and industrial business company. It has around 168,000 employees with annual sales in excess of $42.93 billion and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Nicholas Akins: American Electric President & CEO

Rising through the ranks of one company, Nicholas Akins would eventually lead a company that is even much bigger than the one he started out with. 

Nicholas “Nick” Akins holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University which he earned in 1982. He also obtained a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the same institution in 1986. Nick rose through the ranks at Central and South Western Corp. (CSW) before the company merged with American Electric Power (AEP) in 2000. 

He served as vice president of industry restructuring for AEP then vice president of energy marketing services. Nick served as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company from 2004 to 2006. He then served as  AEP’s executive vice president of generation from 2006 to 2010.  

Since 2010, Nick has been the CEO and president of AEP. In the company’s history he is the tenth president and sixth CEO. 

American Electric Power Co., Inc.  is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and generates annual sales of more than $17 billion with around 21,830 employees. It is a public utility holding company that engages in the business of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. AEP does business through the following segments: Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission & Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, Generation & Marketing and AEP River Operations. 

The Vertically Integrated Utilities segment engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers through assets owned and operated by its subsidiaries. The AEP Transmission Holdco segment engages in the development, construction and operation of transmission facilities through investments in wholly owned transmission subsidiaries and joint ventures. 

The Generating & Marketing segment engages in non-regulated generation: and marketing, risk management and retail activities. The AEP River Operations segment engages in the commercial barging operations that transports liquids, coal, and dry bulk commodities primarily on the Ohio, Illinois and lower Mississippi Rivers. 

The company was founded on December 20, 1906. 

Hyoung-Keun Lee: Kia Motors Chief Executive Officer

While there are many individuals who famously dropped out of college and successfully built and led multibillion dollar companies, there are also those who made it big by trying the true and tested approach of having a college degree. 

Hyoung-Keun Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Seoul National University. Rising through the ranks Lee served as President of Kia Motors Europe and also served as President of Kia Motors since August 2009. 

Lee, also known as Hank is now Chief Executive Officer of Kia Motors Corporation The company was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Kia Motors has around 44,542 employees with annual sales in excess of $44 billion. 

Kia Motors Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells motor vehicles and parts in South Korea, North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers passenger cars, recreational vehicles, and other commercial vehicles. It is also involved in leasing vehicles and providing vehicle maintenance services. The company sells its products primarily through a network of distributors and dealers. 

Zhang Dongning: Bank of Beijing President

There are many paths to success, for Zhang Dongning, he started out as a teacher in middle school and eventually found his path to lead a multibillion dollar bank. 

Zhang Dongning earned a bachelor’s degree from Capital Normal University in 1983. He obtained a master’s degree in management from Xiamen University in 2005. Zhang was a teacher at Beijing Xihongmen Middle School from 1983 to December 1987. He served as Director of the Office of Youth League Committee of Daxing County from January 1988 to November 1988. Zhang worked in the Education Division in the Beijing Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China from December 1988 to December 1995. 

Zhang then served as the General Manager of the Training Department of Bank of Beijing Co., Ltd. from January 1996 to March 2005. He then served as General Manager of the HR Department from March 2005 to December 2008. 

He continued his rise through the corporate ladder and by December 2009 he was appointed Vice President of Bank of Beijing, holding the position until August 2013 whereupon he was named President of the bank. 

Zhang who is an economist, leads a bank with around 9,193 employees and generates sales in excess of $12 billion. Bank of Beijing is headquartered in Beijing, China and engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Banking Business, Retail Banking Business, Treasury Business, and Other Business. 

The Corporate Banking Business provides banking services for corporate customers such as deposit taking, loan lending, trade finance, agency service, entrusting services and credit assurance. The retail Banking Business provides banking services for individual customers such as saving, investment saving, entrusting, bank cards, credit and individual assets management, settlement, agency and credit assurance. The Treasury Business includes trading of derivatives from interest rates and foreign exchanges, money market trading, securities investment, as well as assets and liabilities management. The Other Business segment includes covers other services not handled by other segments. The bank was founded on December 8, 1995.  

Dian Kang: New China Life Insurance CEO

Dian Kang holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, graduating in 1982 from the University of Science and Technology of Beijing (formerly known as Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Engineering). In 1984 he graduated from the Graduate School of Academy of Social Science of China earning a Master’s degree in Economics. Dian is a PhD candidate at the Cambridge University, United Kingdom. 

Among his various roles in the business industry he has been the Chairman and Director of New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. since December 2009. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of New Life Insurance Co., Ltd in February 2013. 

Dian heads a company with more than 56,000 employees and sales in excess of $23 billion. New China Life Insurance is headquartered in Beijing, China. The company engages in the provision of life insurance services. Its principal activities include underwriting life insurance policies denominated in both RMB and foreign currencies, including life, health and accident insurance products; acting as agent for domestic and international insurance companies among other insurance and finance related activities. 

Rakesh Kapoor: RB CEO

Rakesh Kapoor was born on August 4, 1958, in Bareilly, India. He attended Modern School, New Delhi, India and has a BE (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani. He took up further studies and holds an MBA from XLRI - Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, India. 

Rakesh joined RB in 1987 when it was known as Reckitt & Colman before it later merged with Benckiser. He served in various positions such as: Regional Sales Manager, North India; General Manager, Indian Southern Region; and Regional Marketing Director, South Asia. Rakesh was appointed Global Category Director, Pest Control in 1999. 

After the merger he was appointed Senior Vice President, Home Care. Rakesh was named SVP, Regional Director, Northern Europe in 2001. He was named EVP, July 2006, with responsibility for global category management, research and development, media, market research and strategic alliances. 

On September 1, 2011, Rakesh was appointed CEO. He replaced Bart Becht, who had assumed the role since the firm was formed in 1999 as a result of the merger of Benckiser with Reckitt & Colman. 

The company that Rakesh leads has 37,200 employees and generates sales of over $14 billion. It is headquartered in Slough, England. Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc is a manufacturer and marketer of branded products in household, health and personal care, selling products through more than 60 operating companies in almost 200 countries. The company analyzes its revenue based on health, hygiene, home and portfolio brands together with RB Pharmaceuticals and Food. RB’s geographical segments include: Europe and North America (ENA); Latin America, North Asia, South East Asia and Australia and New Zealand (LAPAC); and Russia and CIS, Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa (RUMEA). 

The key brands of the company include Durex, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Nurofen, Scholl, Strepsils, Airborne, MegaRed, Move Free, Bang, Clearasil, Dottel, Finish, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Veet Air Wick, Calgon, Vanish and Oolite.

Reckitt Benckiser announced in 2014, that it was dropping its full name and would be known as RB. Rakesh stated that the old name was “a bit of a mouthful” and the name change would make life easier. 

Joseph Hooley: State Street Chairman & CEO

Joseph L. Hooley earned a bachelor of science degree from Boston College. He joined State Street in 1986 and has since held various leadership positions with increasing responsibility.

He led the US Mutual Fund sales organization then joined State Street’s shareholder servicing joining venture with Kansas City-based DST systems. Joseph served as president and chief executive officer of National Financial Data Services from 1988 to 1990 and then became president and chief executive officer of Boston Financial Data Services from 1990 to 2000. 

Then in 2000, Joseph returned to State Street to manage the firm’s global investment servicing business. In that period he played an instrumental role in the firm’s strategic acquisitions, including Deutsche Bank’s Global Securities Services business in 2003 and Investors Financial Services Corporation in 2007. Joseph was named vice chairman in 2006 and in 2008 was appoint president and chief operating officer. As of 2010 he became chairman and president of State Street.

State Street Corporation is one of the largest companies in the world providing financial services to institutional investors with $27.3 trillion in assets under custody and administration, and $2.2 trillion in assets under management as of September 30, 2015.