Jeff Smisek: United Airlines CEO

Jeff Smisek was born in 1954. Early on Jeff already belonged at the top of the heap graduating with A.B. summa cum laude in economics from the prestigious Princeton University in 1976. He did just as well at Harvard Law School finishing with a J.D. magna cum laude in 1982.

Jeff became a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP. While working there he specialized in corporate finance and securities law. Then he took a major career change joining the airline industry in March 1995 as senior vice president and general counsel for Continental Airlines. He then began to take on various positions of increasing responsibility.

Jeff was promoted to president in December 2004 and also became a board member.  He became president and chief operating officer in September 2008. In this role he was responsible for airline operations, inflights, airports, catering, cargo, maintenance, and technical operations, and also human resources and labor relationships, global real estate, among other functions.

On January 1, 2010 he became the chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Airlines. There was also a merger with United Airlines in the same year. Jeff eventually became the chairman, president and chief executive officer of the merged companies United Airlines which is owned by United Continental Holdings. He leads United and its United Express regional partner airlines which operate almost 5,500 flights a day to more than 370 airports in six continents.

The airline industry has experienced some very tough times and United has had its share of problems. Jeff who was named Aviation Week’s Person of the Year in 2010 has been busy trying to address the problems.

Jeff serves on the board of directors for National Oilwell Varco, Inc. He is on the Baker Institute Board of Advisers and the Board of Trustees of Rice University as well. Jeff is also vice chairman of the Board of Airlines for America. 

Edward B. Rust Jr.: State Farm Insurance CEO

Edward B. Rust, Jr.  graduated from Bloomington High School in 1968. Then he earned a college degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.  Edward holds a master of business and juris doctor degrees both from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

He joined State Farm in 1975 at the Dallas, Texas regional office.  Eventually he was appointed president and CEO and became board chairman.  Today he is the chairman of the board and CEO of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois. He is also the president and CEO of State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, State Farm Life Insurance Company and other principal State Farm affiliates.

The insurance business runs through Edward’s blood. His father Edward Sr. and his grandfather Adlai Rust also led the company before him. Under his leadership, State Farm had outstanding results in 2013 with net income increasing by 63 percent. Net worth grew by 16 percent to $75 billion over the same period. This was the highest net worth achieved in the firm’s entire history. 

Joseph Swedish: WellPoint CEO

Joseph Swedish earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1973.  He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from Duke University in 1979.  Joseph has over 40 years of wide ranging healthcare leadership experience which he has brought to WellPoint. This includes 24 years as the CEO of major health and hospital systems.

From March 1994 to January 1999 Joseph served as President and CEO of the East Florida Division of Columbia and Central Florida Division at HCA Healthcare Corporation (Hospital Corporation of America). He has been the President and CEO of Centura Health, Inc. from January 1999 to January 2005. Upon joining Centura Joseph concentrated his effort on ensuring the financial stability and service excellence of its core operations.

Before leading WellPoint Joseph served as President and CEO of Trinity Health Corporation, an integrated health care delivery system operation doing business in multiple states. At Trinity, he accelerated financial and operational performance. Under his leadership revenue grew from less than $6 billion in 2005 to around $9 billion in 2012. Operating margins also doubled resulting in Trinity becoming the fourth largest Catholic healthcare system in the country.  

Joseph in 2012 negotiated and initiated the merger of Trinity Health and Catholic Health East which now represents the country’s second largest non-profit health care system.

In March 2013, Joseph was appointed CEO of WellPoint. He was named President by the Board of Directors in May 2014. Joseph upon assuming leadership immediately focused on refining the company’s strategic direction and positioning WellPoint for long term success. He improved operations by aligning the firm’s organizational structure around two primary operating segments, namely: the Commercial Business Division and the Government Business Division. Under Joseph’s stewardship the firm completed successful integration with Amerigroup, launched over 1,000 products in 14 states in support of the health insurance exchange marketplace and the stocks of WellPoint achieved an all-time high.

WellPoint is one of the country’s largest health benefit firms serving 37 million Americans and had operating revenue of $70 billion in 2013.

Mark Modello is a native of Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Florida in 1987. After finishing college Mark worked for Moog, Inc. as a commercial and defense related aerospace project manager.

While playing softball he found out about Florida-based electronics firm Jabil and joined the company in 1992 as a manufacturing supervisor. At that time the company was a fledgling circuit board manufacturer. Mark was promoted to project manager the following year. He was appointed vice president, business development in 1997.

Mark earned another promotion becoming senior vice president, business development in 1999. He became the chief operation officer in 2002, responsible for the company’s global operations, business development, new product development, supply chain and information technology.

He became the president and CEO of Jabil at the age of 48, on March 1, 2013.  Mark is expected to continue the firm’s attempts to diversify its product mix away from its core electronics business into areas such as life science, health care and pet products.

Jabil has more than 90 plants in 33 countries with revenue of $18.3 billion in 2013. 

R. Andrew Clyde: Leading A Giant Spin-Off

R. Andrew Clyde was born in Chicago, Illinois. His grandfather, Robert Aycock worked in the fuel industry selling fuel for PanAm Southern throughout south Arkansas and northern Louisiana. His grandfather later retired and established his own commercial fuel business serving small customers in the region.

Clyde worked for and traveled with his grandfather during summers and winter breaks in college. He was able to experience real world education observing how his grandfather dealt with customers on a personal level. This experience exposed Clyde to the fuel industry where he would have a very successful career.

He earned a BBA in Accounting with a minor in Geology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Clyde went to work for Arthur Anderson CPAs. He entered into the energy sector while working with a turnaround entrepreneur and consulting giant Booz and Co. The latter he worked for 20 years. While working at Booz he found time to obtain an MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University in Chicago graduating with Distinction.

Clyde later led Booz’s North America energy, chemicals and utilities practice, which provide services to major oil and gas companies, large independent firms and small box retail companies. His job led to travels in 30 countries all over the world and introduced him to Murphy Oil.

Clyde has provide recommendation and assisted with implementation of operational improvements to the business of Murphy Oil and capital allocation for development projects to grow the network. He led the development of the business strategy for the US retail company to move forward as a separate entity.  Murphy Oil announced in December of 2012 that it would spin-off it downstream operations, mainly its retail centers and become a pure play oil and gas and production company.

Having been deeply involved with the separation process it wasn’t a surprise when Clyde was appointed to head the new entity, Murphy USA. This new company is huge by any measure. It has around 1,179 retail outlets in 23 states (as of June 30, 2013) with revenues of $19.655 billion in 2012. Murphy USA performs 1.6 million transactions daily and has around 7,662 employees. 

Michael Kasbar: World Fuel Services Head

Michael Kasbar studied at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. He decided to go into the energy sector and became a marine fuel broker in New York in 1978. Michael established Gray Bunkering Services, a marine fuel and lubricants company in 1983.

He then co-founded Trans-Tec Services, Inc. with his partner, Paul Stebbins. This firm was a global marine fuel services company which was acquired by World Fuel Services in 1995. Michael subsequently joined World Fuel Services as Director and Chief Executive Officer of the marine segment.

He has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of World Fuel Services and was responsible for driving the firm’s aggressive acquisition strategy and quest for operational excellence.  In 2014, Michael assumed his present role as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the firm.

Today, World Fuel Services is a global player in the downstream marketing and financing of aviation, marine, and ground transportation fuel products and related services. In more than 8,000 locations around the world the firm’s team of local professionals delivers innovative fuel solutions and logistics.

Roger Crandall: MassMutual CEO

Roger Crandall graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Vermont. He is a Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) and obtained his MBA with honors from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Roger’s career at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) began in 1988 where he spent the first 12 years of his career in the Investment Management Department of the company.  Then he became part of Babson Capital Management LLC, a subsidiary of MassMutual in 2000. By 2002, Roger was appointed Managing Director at Babson Capital and head of the firm’s Corporate Bond Management, Public Bond Trading and Institutional Fixed Income units.

Roger was named Chairman of Babson Capital and Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of MassMutual in June 2005. He became more directly involved with MassMutual in 2007 with his appointment as Co-Chief Operating Officer. Roger in this capacity was responsible for Babson Capital and two other MassMutual subsidiaries – Cornerstone Real Estate Adviser LLC and Baring Asset Management Limited and also of MassMutual’s Retirement and Financial Products businesses.

In December 2008 he took a step further up the executive ladder having been named President and Chief Operating Officer at the same time Roger also joined the Board of Directors and also gained oversight of MassMutual’s domestic insurance business which includes the company’s core product, whole life insurance – Enterprise Technology Organization and MassMutual International LLC.  He became the CEO of the MassMutual on January 1, 2010.

Roger serves on the Board of Directors of the American Council of Life Insurers and the Wharton Board of Leadership Advisors. He also serves on the CEO Roundtable as well as the Massachusetts Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.

The company Roger leads has a long history having been founded on May 15, 1851. More than 160 years later it has provided financial and retirement security to millions of people, paid dividends to its participating policy owners continuously each year since the 1860s. It is also now one of the largest corporations on the planet.

Roger Ferguson Jr.: TIA-CREF CEO

Roger Ferguson, Jr. was born on October 28, 1951 in Washington, D.C. Of great intellect he graduated with a B.A. in economics magna cum laude in 1973, a J.D. cum laude in 1979 and a Ph.D. in economics all from Harvard University.  On a Frank Know Memorial Fellowship he attended Pembroke College at Cambridge University from 1973 to 1974.

Roger was an attorney at the New York City office of Davis Polk & Wardell from 1981 to 1984. He was a partner at McKinsey & Company and from 1984 to 1997 and was based in New York City. Roger served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System starting November 1997. He was appointed Vice Chairman in October 1999. Roger is known for his outstanding work and contribution during his stint as Vice Chairman.

After working with Swiss Re starting June 19, 2006 he was named on April 2008 as President and CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF).

Founded in 1918 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie TIAA-CREF now has $569 billion assets under management with 9,000 employees in over 100 local offices.

Richard Hamada: Avnet CEO

Richard Hamada earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from San Diego State University. He got his job at Avnet where he is now the CEO by complaining and he was very vocal about his complaint. He wasn’t employed by the company at that time but was a customer. Richard experienced bad service from the company and he told them exactly how he felt. Avnet eventually offered him a job.

When he started working he wanted his new employers to know that he wasn’t going to be just a salesman; he wanted his client companies to understand what they were getting and how it worked.

Reaching the top post did not happen overnight. It took almost 30 years to get there. Richard joined Hamilton/Avnet Electronics in 1983 as a technical specialist in San Diego. Along the way he gained exposure in sales and marketing. Richard was also a field sales representative, computer sales manager, sales unit director, regional sales manager, area vice president, and vice president of business development for Open Systems.

He was the global president of Avnet Computer Marketing before becoming global president of Avnet Technology Solutions. This is the operating group that was formed in 2003 with the internal integration of two formerly independent business groups, Avnet Computer Marketing and Avnet Applied Computing. From $4 billion at its inception Avnet Technology Solutions grew to almost $5 billion in 2006, exceeding the return on capital employed (ROCE) goals set for the group.

Richard was later promoted to chief operating officer in July 2006 and named president and chief operating officer in May 2010. He played a major role in improving the company’s performance-and values-based culture of excellence at the same time helping the firm realize outstanding results.

On July 2011 Richard was named Chief Executive Officer and concurrently elected to Avnet’s Board of Directors.

Avnet is a global company being one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology. It serves an important link in the technology supply chain.