Omar Ishrak: Medtronics Chairman & CEO

Omar Ishrak grew up in Bangladesh. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of London, King’s College. 

Omar had 13 years of technology development and business management experience, holding leadership positions at Diasonic/Vingmed, and various product development and engineering positions at Philips Ultrasound, in the early part of his career. 

He spent 16 years at General Electric and his most recent position was as President and CEO of GE Healthcare Systems, a $12 billion division of GE Healthcare, with a broad portfolio of diagnostic, imaging, patient monitoring and life support systems. 

Omar then joined Medtronics and has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since June 2011. Since joining he has focused the company on three core strategies of Therapy Innovations, Economic Value and Globalization. Medtronics is a world leading medical technology company, with more than $27 billion in annual revenue, and operations spanning over 160 countries. 

In 2014, Omar lead the acquisition of Covidien, a $10 billion global manufacturer of surgical products and supplies. The acquisition of Covidien was the largest medical technology acquisition in the history of the industry. 

Francis Blake: Home Depot Chairman

Francis Blake was born on July 30, 1949 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Francis graduated from Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1967. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1971 at Harvard University.  In 1976 he obtained a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

Francis was a legislative assistant to the joint committee on Social Welfare of the Massachusetts legislature from 1971-1973.  He was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1978. Francis served as a law clerk to Judge Wilfred Feinberg and then to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Steven. He also served as general counsel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), deputy counsel to Vice President George H.W. Bush.

Francis was the general counsel for General Electric from 1991-1995. He then served as Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and managed the DOE’s annual $19 billion budget.

Francis joined Home Depot in 2002 as executive vice president for Business Development and Corporate Operations and vice chairman of the board of directors.  He became the chairman and CEO after his predecessor Robert Nardelli resigned on January 2007.  Francis is credited in turning around Home Depot’s performance by focusing on improving employee morale and giving better customer service.

A new president and CEO was appointed on November 2014 with Francis remaining as chairman. 

Dr. Marjin Dekkers: Bayer Chairman

Scientists with interest in the field of business can become top executive of large companies too. Take the case of Dr. Marjin Dekkers.  He was born on September 22, 1957 in the Dutch city of Tilburg. Dr. Dekkers earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the Radboud University of Nijmegen (Netherlands) and his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Eindhoven (Netherlands).

From the Netherlands Dr. Dekkers crossed the Atlantic and began his professional career as a scientist at the corporate research center of General Electric in the U.S. He gained valuable experience working in various units of the company.

In 1995 he joined AlliedSignal (later Honeywell International Inc.) Dr. Dekkers then became the chief operating officer of Thermo Electron Science Inc. in 2000. He later became the president and CEO of the company which is the leading manufacturer of laboratory instruments in the world (following the acquisition of laboratory supplier Fisher Scientific the company was renamed Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.)

Dr. Dekkers joined Bayer as interim CEO of Bayer Healthcare on January 1, 2010. Since October 2010 he has served as chairman of Bayer’s management group.

Bayer is a global company which had sales of €39.7 billion in fiscal year 2012 and employing around 110,000 people.

Kevin W. Sharer: Reaching His Goals

Kevin Sharer always wanted to lead. Following his father’s footsteps he entered the U.S. Naval Academy and earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and a master’s degree. Like his father we wanted to be a naval pilot but poor eyesight prevented him from reaching that goal.

He joined the submarine service as a lieutenant and left the navy in 1978 as a lieutenant commander in a nuclear submarine. He wanted to rise quickly and realized it would take some time before he would be heading the submarine service.  He worked AT&T from 1978 to 1982 while obtaining an MBA from the University of Pittsburg in 1982.

Wanting to improve his career Sharer joined McKinsey & Company as a consultant from 1982 to 1984. He was then recruited by General Electric (GE) in 1984 as an executive.  Later on he was offered to head the GE jet engine division. He left the company because he felt the position was not high profile enough.

In his quest to lead his own company Sharer joined MCI in 1989 as an executive vice president in marketing. He once again left this company because he felt he would never get the top position of CEO given the internal politics in the company.

He moved to Amgen in 1992 as president and COO because he felt it gave him a good chance to becoming the company CEO.  Amgen was a biotech company. This was not a field Sharer was an expert in. To his credit he took a crash course in biotechnology to learn more about it.

His lack of technical background left some in doubt about his qualification to lead the company. His predecessor thought that the company had enough scientists and what it needed was a leader who had business experience since the company was getting more commercialized.

While Amgen was the largest biotech company in the world it was at best a mid-size firm. In 2000 Sharer finally reached his personal goal, he was appointed CEO. Sharer is not just a man with a goal to reach the top post but he is also a competent leader. His company goal is to make Amgen not just the top biotech pharmaceutical firm but also one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world.  Under his leadership he is turning this goal into a reality. Sharer also became chairman in 2001.

David M. Cote: Wandering Youth Becomes Outstanding Executive

Some people have to find their way around before they finally hit their stride. David M. Cote was a young man who wandered off a bit before finally buckling down and getting things done. He was born in 1952. It took him longer than average to finish college, not because he was flunking but he was doing other things.

Money intended for college he used to buy a car and became a manual laborer. Then he decided to finally go to college at the University of New Hampshire so he could get ahead with life. This took a bit longer, six years in fact since he held a full time night job at GE jet-manufacturing plant. He also bought a boat with a friend and tried the life of a lobster fisherman.

After finally earning his degree in business administration, Cote got managerial jobs in the consumer-electronics, jet engines, and plastic divisions at GE. By 1996 he was appointed president and CEO of the $6 billion Appliances division. He pioneered at GE what they called the “smart bomb” technique. Instead of implementing a continent wide approach in Asia, Cote formed teams to study the individual cultures and needs of each country then offered the suited appliances.

After not getting the top position at GE, Cote went to work for TRW as president and COO in 1999. In early 2001 Cote became CEO and was appointed chairman in late 2001. He led the establishment of a new subsidiary at TRW then took another change of job.
This job would be his biggest challenge. In early 2002 he became president, CEO, and member of the board of directors at Honeywell. In middle of 2002 the title of chairman of the board was added. The company he would lead had mounting debt, low sales, asbestos lawsuits, low morale and falling stock prices.

He turned things around at Honeywell. It is today a $37 billion technology and manufacturing company with almost 140,000 employees and more than 50 percent of its revenues outside of the U.S. He has received many awards for his leadership performance and was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater. The man who wandered off a bit has made significant impact in not just one but all three companies he worked for.

Willing To Take The Risk: Ellen J. Kullman

Ellen Kullman is the Chairman and CEO of DuPont. This is not an ordinary company by any standards. On longevity alone it’s been around for 210 years. The company had earnings of $38.7 billion in 2011.

Ellen is the first Chairman and CEO in the company’s long history.  She started her career at General Electric then joined DuPont in 1988 as a marketing manager. She was on her way up the leadership ladder.  After a series of management positions, in 1995 she became the vice president and general manager of White Pigments & Mineral Products.

She was already comfortable with her job leading around 6,000 employees and managing a $2 billion business.  Then in the latter part of 1998 she was asked to create a consultancy business based on the company’s safety practices.  DuPont’s CEO then told her it was alright if she would not accept the new job assignment.

Taking this challenge had its perils. It would seem like she was being pushed out of a stable job position for someone else to take over.  Kullman would start with virtually nothing but an idea.

Both her mentor at DuPont and her husband were not in favor of it. It would be something totally new for her since she would have to be more entrepreneurial in this undertaking. It would also be new for DuPont since it was a company that sold products and not services.

It must have been the challenge that made her decide to take the job. It would really put her to the test. It was totally new and she had a clean slate to start with. Kullman was able to convince some people to work with her.  She assured them that she would help them find another job at DuPont if it didn’t work out.

Turning the idea into reality was not an easy task there were failures along the way. It was all worth it since she was able to turn safety consultancy into a $ 5 billion dollar business.  This achievement certainly helped her rise to the top.