Olof Persson: Volvo Chief

Olof Persson was born in 1964 earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Karlstad University. He joined Volvo in 2006 as President of the Volvo Aero Group and served until 2008. With his management skills he moved to another unit and was President of Volvo Construction from 2008 to 2011. Good leadership talent is easily noticed and for Persson this led to a promotion to the top spot as President of AB Volvo and Chief Executive Officer of the Volvo Group in 2011.

The Volvo Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. The group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. The firm has around 115,000 employees with production facilities in 19 countries. It sells its products in more than 190 markets. The Volvo Group a publicly traded company. Its headquarters is in Götenborg, Sweden.  Company shares are listed on OMX Nordic Exchange. The Volvo Group’s revenue for 2012 totaled around SEK 304 billion.

Persson heads a very large organization and leading a firm this size requires leadership and management skills at the elite level. 

Kenneth Frazier: Merck CEO

Kenneth Frazier earned his bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and obtained a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Kenneth practiced law and was a partner with the Philadelphia law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath. While still in the field of law he made a change in his career joining Merck in 1992 as vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Astra Merck Group.

Since joining Merck Kenneth’s only direction has been up. He was appointed vice president of Public Affairs in 1994, and in 1997, assumed the additional responsibilities of assistant general counsel, corporate staff.  In January 1999 he went up the ladder as vice president and deputy general counsel. By the end of the year he was promoted senior vice president and general counsel. He oversaw the legal and public affairs functions of Merck and The Merck Company Foundation.

Kenneth was promoted to executive vice president and general counsel in November 2006. From 2007 to May 2010 he service as executive vice president and president, Global Human Health. Kenneth then served as president of Merck overseeing the company’s three major division: Global Human Health, Merck’s sales and marketing division for pharmaceutical and vaccine products; Merck Manufacturing Division, Merck’s manufacturing and supply; and Merck Research Laboratories, Merck’s research organization. With his performance he became CEO and member of the board of directors in January 1, 2011 and was elected chairman of the board on December 1, 2011.

Some may have expected a trained business executive or someone with a pharmaceutical background to be heading Merck. Yet when we deal with healthcare we also have to deal with a host of rules and regulations governing the industry. So having someone with a law background has its own advantages.

Merck is a leading global healthcare company and one of the largest in the world. Its scientists have helped to find new ways to treat and prevent illnesses such as the discovery of vitamin B1 and the first measles vaccine. 

Brady Dougan: Credit Suisse Group Chief

Brady Dougan is an American who is the big boss at Swiss financial giant Credit Suisse Group. Brady was born in 1959.  He earned his B.A. in Economics for the University of Chicago in 1981. Brady obtained his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1982.  

Brady has worked in the financial industry since the start of his career in 1981. He first worked in the derivative group at Bankers Trust. In 1990 Brady joined Credit Suisse First Boston. For five years he headed the Equities division after which he was promoted to Global Head of the Securities division in 2001.

Brady was Co-President, from 2002 to July 2004 of Institutional Services at Credit Suisse First Boston. He was then the Chief Executive Officer of Credit First Boston from 2004 until the merger with Credit Suisse in May 2005. From May 2005 to the end of 2005, Brady was CEO of the Credit Suisse First Boston division at the Bank.

Then from January 2006 he was CEO Investment Banking and acting CEO Credit Suisse Americas. Brady has been the CEO and Member of Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group AG and Credit Suisse AG since May 2007. Since 2005 he has served as member of the Board of Directors of Humacyte Inc., a biotechnology company.

Whether at home or abroad Brady has proven he belongs to an elite class of business executives. 

Antoine Frérot: Veolia Environnement

Antoine Frérot was born on June 3, 1958 in Fontainebleau, France.  He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1977 and engineer at the Ponts et Chaussées corps. Antoine earned a doctorate degree from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

He started his career in 1981 as an engineering researcher at the Central Research Office for French Overseas Departments and Territories. Antoine joined the Center of Study and Research of the École nationale des ponts and chaussées as project manager in 1983. He became assistant director from 1984 to 1988.

Antoine took a change in career course in 1988 joining Crédit National placed in charge of its financial operations. He then became an official representative at Compagnie Générale de Eaux in 1990. Five years later Antoine became CEO of CGEA Transport. He was appointed CEO of CONNEX in 2000. This is the transport division of Vivendi Environnement. He also joined the executive committee of Vivendi.

Antoine transferred to Veolia Environnement in 2003 as a Senior Executive Vice President and CEO of its water division Veolia Eau. He was eventually promoted to CEO of Veolia in November 2009 and in December 2010 also became the Chairman.

Veolia Environnement is one of leading environmental services companies in the world. It offers customized solutions in three complementary business areas: water management, waste management and energy management. Revenue was at €29 billion in 2012.

Despite the size of the company it has huge problems that Antoine has been addressing like the forced writedown of €800 million in 2011. This was due to problems in its businesses in Italy, the US and Morocco.  Antoine made a decision in December 2011 to pull out of half the countries the company was doing business in and start selling off €5 billion in assets.  His former mentor and former CEO was against this decision.  The former CEO used his seat in the board to try to oust Antoine which Antoine successfully fended off while strengthening his own position.

Business challenges and internal squabbles all part of the territory in which Antoine operates in. He is still continuing to lower the company debt and improve operations. 

Christopher A. Viehbacher: Sanofi CEO

Christopher A. Viehbacher was born on March 26, 1960.  He holds German and Canadian nationalities. Christopher graduated from Queens University (Ontario – Canada). A certified public accountant he speaks French, German and English.

Christopher began his career in finance at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He then joined GlaxoSmitKline (GSK) in 1988. During the next 20 years with GSK he gained wide international experience in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. His last position at GSK before joining Sanofi was President, Pharmaceutical Operations North America. Christopher was also a member of the board and Co – Chairman of the Portfolio Management Board.

In December 2008 he became CEO of Sanofi and has since held the position. Christopher is a Board member and is also a member of the Strategy Committee. In February 2011, Sanofi acquired Genzyme of which he is also the Chairman.

Christopher was awarded a knight of the French Legion of Honor in 2003 for his commitment to public health and business. For his leadership role within the pharmaceutical industry he was awarded the prestigious 2012 Pasteur Foundation Award.

With headquarters in Paris, France Sanofi is a global healthcare leader with 110,000 employees, with net sales of €34. 95 billion in 2012. 

Michel Savart: Fonciere Euris Big Boss

Schools can serve as good indicators if a person is on the way to the path of success. It’s no guarantee but it can’t be denied that some of the world’s top executives and entrepreneurs have come from the world’s top notch academic institutions.

Michel Savart carries on the reputation of top schools producing future top executives. He graduated from highly-regarded Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris. Michel started his career in 1986 with Havas. The following year he worked with Banque Louis Dreyfus and then Banque Arjil in 1988. After having been with three different financial institutions in as many years he stayed a bit longer at Banque Arjil leading various projects and advised the bank’s management board as well.  Michel moved over to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (DKB) in 1995 where he served as Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. He stayed with DKB until 1999.

In October 1999 he joined Euris-Rallye group as Director and Advisor to the Chairman, responsible for private equity investment.  Less than ten years later on August 2009 Michel was appointed CEO of Fonciere Euris. The following year on May 2010 he also took on the role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Michel’s strong financial background helped him land this job. French firm Fonciere Euris has holdings in real estate and private equity investment. As CEO one of his priorities has been streamlining the business which has been partially achieved by selling assets.  Michel made the decision in October 2012 to sell Fonciere Euris’ stake in the Manufaktura mall in Poland along with Rallye which also sold its investment in the project. The sale was worth €310 million and the proceeds split three ways between Fonciere Euris, Rally and Apsys.

Michel’s stature and experience in the industry has proven invaluable so much so that when Jacques Ehrmann stepped down as Chairman and CEO of real estate firm Mercialys, Michel became the interim chairman of the board of directors in September 2012.

A graduate of well-known academic institutions in France, Michel is proof that these schools do produce outstanding executive who later lead multibillion dollar companies. 

Xu Lejiang: Bao Steel Group Chairman

Bao Steel Group Corporation also known as Baosteel was born during the time of China’s reforming and opening up to the world. Only after a day of the closing of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee the construction of Baosteel began on the banks of the Yangtze River in north Shanghai on December 23, 1978. 

Today, after more than thirty years in existence, the firm has become China’s most competitive iron and steel group with the highest level of modernization. Baosteel had around 103,401 employees located all around the globe at the end of 2012. The company’s primary operation is in iron and steel, producing premium iron and steel products with high technology contents and added values which has foster three major product lines. These product lines are carbon steel, stainless steel, and special steel. Baosteel is listed by Fortune magazine as one of the largest companies in the world.

Heading this huge enterprise is Xu Lejiang who serves as Chairman.  He graduated from Jiangxi Metallurgy Institute in 1982. Xu went to Western Virginia University in the US for further studies from 1995 to 1996. He earned his MBA degree from the joint program of Fudan University and University of Hong Kong in 2000.

Xu joined Baosteel Group Corporation in 1982 and has deep managerial expertise in the steel industry.  In November 1998 he was appointed director, vice president and member CPC committee of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation. After various promotions Xu became chairman in 2007. 

Bon-joon Koo: LG Electronics CEO

Bon-joon Koo was born in 1951. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Statistics from highly-regarded Seoul National University in South Korea in 1978 and later earned an MBA degree from the University of Chicago in the early 1980s.

Koo worked for a while at AT&T in the U.S. He then returned to South Korea and joined the global electronics giant LG Group.  There was something beyond the ordinary when he joined the company. Koo after all was the grandson of LG Group founder In-hwoi Koo. He is also the younger brother of LG’s current chairman, Bon-Moo Koo.

Koo while obviously having the inside track he has proven his worth in the early part of his career. He managed the joint venture, LG Philips LCD from 1999 to 2006. It is said when he took the job he encouraged employees to adopt the motto “Let’s Become No. 1”, and when this goal was achieved, “Let’s Keep Our No. 1 Title”. Koo has been given credit for leading the way for what is now LG Display to be a global leader in its field by securing a large and risky investment in LCD technology ahead of the competition.

He was appointed CEO and Vice Chairman of LG Electronics in October 1, 2010 and has been Head of Business Innovation Office since November 2010. Before his appointment to Vice Chairman of LG Electronics Koo was the Vice Chairman and CEO of LG International.

Early in his career Koo held numerous executive roles overseeing semiconductors, PCs, IT and chemicals. He returned to LG Electronics where he worked from 1986 to 1995 across a range of business areas. In assuming the top executive position at LG Electronics Koo was tasked with turning around the faltering mobile business.  He has focused on developing their own smartphone range. The reshuffling of managers at LG Electronics also continued. Cost cutting measures have also been implemented.

There is still a long way to go for LG Electronics to become a highly competitive giant once again but Koo has taken the tough and painful actions on the road to recovery.

John Strangfeld: Prudential Financial Chief

Not every employee will one day become CEO of the company they work for. This position goes to only a chosen few. One of those who had enough skill and talent to get the top post is John Strangfeld.  

John earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Susquehanna University and got his MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. 

John has been a long serving employee of Prudential Financial having joined in July 1977. Over the 35 years he has been with the company he has held various managerial positions. John has worked both in the U.S. and abroad for Prudential including a six year stint in London.

Among the positions John has served in include Chairman at PRICOA Capital Group (London) Europe from 1989 to 1995. He was the Senior Managing Director of the Private Asset Management Group from 1995 to 1996. He became the Chairman and CEO in 2008 after having been the Vice Chairman responsible for Prudential’s U.S. Businesses, which include both the Investment and Insurance Divisions.

Prudential Financial, Inc. is one of the largest companies in the world and has been in business for over 135 years. It has operations in 38 countries and territories with asset under management amounting to $1.076 trillion.

John belongs to a group of elite business executives who lead huge corporations.