Dong Soo Hur: GS Caltex Chairman

Getting to the top position in a company takes a lot of hard work. It does not come overnight. Working hard in the office is the main reason why people move ahead in the corporate world, having a good education also helps. Dong Soo Hur the chairman of GS Caltex can attest to that.

Hur who grew up in Seoul, South Korea obtained his bachelor’s degree at Yonsei University. He didn’t stop his education there. He went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to earn a Master of Science in 1968 and a PhD in 1971 in Chemical Engineering. The University of Wisconsin was considered one of the best schools in chemical engineering at that time. Hur also believed chemical engineering would be a critical factor in the development of the Korean economy.

After graduating Hur became only the fourth Korean to earn a doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin. He then began his career as a research engineer with Chevron Corporation. Hur returned to Korea in 1973 and worked for Honam Oil, this was the predecessor of GS Caltex.

He began his climb up the corporate ladder. Hur became the vice president in 1978 and became president in 1991. He shepherded the company through the Asian oil crisis in the 1980s and the 1990s. Hur started the groundwork for exporting gasoline to Japan and the United States.

GS Caltex began producing 60,000 barrels a day when it started commercial operations in 1969. Today it has crude oil refining facilities with a capacity of 775,000 barrels a day and is the third largest single-site oil refinery in the world. GS Caltex is the oldest private oil company in Korea and supplies over 30 percent of the petroleum products demand in Korea. It also operates the world’s largest aromatic plant.

When not at work Hur promotes the game of Baduk, a board game similar to the Japanese game Go. He was elected head of Korea’s Baduk Association and its Amateur Baduk Association.

 

Xiwu Zhang: Shenhua Group Chairman

Xiwu Zhang graduated from Jixi College of Technology in 1988. Later he attended Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology and earned a masters degree in 1997. Zhang took further studies and earned a PhD from Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology in 2003.

Zhang is currently Chairman and Secretary of CPC Leadership Group of Shenhua Group Corporation Limited. He also holds the post as an Executive Director and Chairman of the Board at China Shenhua Energy Company Limited. Before that, Zhang worked as First Deputy Mine Head, Mine Head, and Assistant of Director when he was in Dayan Coal Mining Bureau.

Just how important is the company Zhang heads? For both China and the world the sheer size of this company affects a good deal of the coal industry and therefore of the energy sector in China and to some degree in the world.

The Shenhua Group Corporation Limited is a wholly state-owned company founded in October 1995 with the approval of the State Council. It is a backbone state-owned enterprise directly under the central government and a super large-scale energy enterprise which takes coal as its foundation. It is the largest and most advanced coal enterprise in China and the largest coal distributor in the world.

It takes outstanding leadership skills and interpersonal relationships to be leading this company. 

Steven Burd: Leading Safeway

Steven Burd was born in 1949 in Valley City, North Dakota. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Carroll University in 1971 and a Masters in Economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1973. He was a Principal of Burd and Associates.

Steven was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Safeway Inc in 1987 and served in that position till October 1992. He then became President from October 26, 1992 to May 2013. On April 30 1993 he became the Chief Executive Officer of Safeway until May 14, 2013.  He joined the Board of Directors on September 7, 1993 and became Chairman of the Board from May 12, 1998 to May 14, 2013.

Having served as CEO for two decades Steven has played a long and significant role in the company’s fortune.  He shaped Safeway and built it into the second-largest supermarket chain in the U.S. This was a very challenging job to say the least because when he took the helm in 1993 the company was sinking.

As far as job performance is concerned. Different sectors have mixed opinion about his leadership style. What they do agree on is he kept the company afloat which meant thousands of workers kept their jobs.

Some employees and customers have been alienated with his cost-cutting tactics. 

As far as labor relations, customer service and health care are concerned; Burd's record is mixed, based on interviews with analysts, grocery industry leaders and labor advocates.  He is known for promoting innovative ideas and taking risks.

Upon retirement Burd left the company in a healthy state. Since 1997 sales have doubled to $44.2 billion and its stock has increased from $3.35 per share in May 1993 when he became CEO to more than $24 when he left.  The firm earned around $597 million in 2012.

Burd will also be well remembered for his efforts in health care reform. At Safeway, workers who smoke, are obese or fail to meet other standards of health pay more. Later the “Safeway Amendment” was added to the Affordable Care Act as a way to cut costs for employers.

The company he left bears little resemblance to the struggling firm he took the leadership role in 1993. 

Andrew Witty

Sir Andrew Philip Witty is the CEO of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. He was born on August 22, 1964 and earned a BA in Economics from the University of Nottingham. Andrew was knighted in 2012 New Year Honours for services to the economy and the UK pharmaceutical industry.

In 1985 he joined Glaxo UK as a management trainee. He rose through the ranks and held a number of positions in the UK such as Director of Pharmacy & Distribution in Glaxo Pharmaceuticals UK, Director of Business Development of Biocompatibles Limited and International Product Manager of Glaxo Holdings PLC.  Andrew has also served outside of the UK as Managing Director of Glaxo South Africa and Area Director of South and East Africa.

His expertise has also been used outside of Glaxo from 2000 to 2002 serving as an economic adviser to the Governor of Guangzhou, China.

After further promotions he was appointed President, Pharmaceuticals Europe of GlaxoSmithKline plc in January 2003. Following the retirement of Dr. Jean-Pierre Garnier in May 2008 he succeeded as CEO.

In late 2012, it was revealed that Andrew had been appointed the 7^th Chancellor of the University of Nottingham effective January 1, 2013. 

José Ingnacio Sánchez Galán: Iberdrola CEO

José Ingnacio Sánchez Galán was born in Salamanca, Spain in 1950. From Salamanca José moved to Madrid and earned a degree in electro-mechanical industrial engineering from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieria (ICAI) at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas. 

José as has a degree in Business Administration and Foreign Trade from the Instituto Católico de Administración y Direcctión de Empresas (ICADE) at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas and also earned a degree in General Business Administration and Foreign Trade from the Escuela de Organización Industrial (EOI) of Madrid.  He is multilingual speaking in English, French, and Italian aside from Spanish.

In 1972 José started his professional career at Sociedad Español del Acumulador Tudor. From a number of executive positions he managed the firm’s international expansion. José managed Industria de Turbopropulsores (ITP) in the early 1990s, from its foundation, he promoted the design manufacturing and maintenance of aircraft engines and gas turbines. While at ITP José integrated technicians from the naval sector in Bilbao, when it underwent restructuring, he was able to redirect their professional activities towards aeronautics.

His career in highly technical and advanced industries continued; from 1993 to 1995 he was the chairman of Eurojet, the European consortium which developed and manufactured Eurojet 200 engines used by the Eurofighter. José became the CEO of the newly created Airtel Móvil (today Vodafone Spain) in 1995.

He was appointed executive vice-president and CEO of Iberdrola in 2001. José was promoted to executive chairman in 2006. He has been credited with the company’s transformation which among others is today one of the world’s largest electricity companies and a global leader in wind energy. This multinational group has operations in dozens of countries comprising major companies like ScottishPower in the UK, Iberdrola USA and Elektro in Brazil.

In 2013 Iberdrola had 32.26 million customers of electricity and gas. It employed 30,680 employees. Gross profit stood at €12,467.7 million. José has had great success at Iberdrola. 

Alexander Wynaendts: Aegon Chief

Alexander Wynaendts was born in 1960 and is a Dutch national. He graduated from Graduate Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité, Paris and has a degree in economics from University of Paris, Sorbonne. Alex started his career with ABN Amro in 1984 working in Amsterdam and London in the Dutch bank’s capital markets, asset management, corporate finance and private banking operations. He joined Aegon in 1997 as Senior Vice-President for Group Business Development. 

Alex became a member of Aegon’s Executive Board since 2003, overseeing the company’s international growth strategy. He was named Chief Operating Officer in April 2007.  Only a year later he was promoted to CEO and elected Chairman of Aegon’s Executive and Management Boards.

Alex leads a sprawling organization. Aegon offers insurance, pensions and asset management in more than 25 countries. The firm is listed on the Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges.  It has A-level ratings from the three main credit rating agencies.

Aegon manages more than EUR 460 billion of its own and its customers’ investments. It has millions of customers and employs more than 26,500 people. Aegon was founded in 1983 following the merger of two Dutch insurance companies, AGO and Ennia. The firm’s history goes back over 150 years though. Today, it is one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. and is number one in the Dutch group pensions market. 

Ian Narev: Commonwealth Bank CEO

Ian Narev’s parents both survived the Holocaust. They left post-war Europe to start a new life in New Zealand were they met and got married. They shortened the family name from Narewczewitz to Narev.

Ian was actually a child star at the age of 12 appearing in “Children of Fire Mountain”, the 1979 television series in his native New Zealand.  Instead of focusing on acting he change priorities and did very well in his academics. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a degree in English and law. He was also the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.

Ian did his masters degree in international corporate law in 1994 at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He was the top student of his year. Ian earned a Masters of Laws in International Relations in 1998 from the New York University where he was a Hauser Scholar.  

He worked as a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisition then later joined consulting firm McKinsey & Co. as a consultant in the financial institutions practice of the firm, working in strategy and organizational change engagements for four of the 10 largest financial institutions in the U.S.  Ian worked in McKinsey’s New York, Sydney, and Auckland offices between 1998 and 2007. He became a global partner in 2003, and from 2005 until he left in 2007 was head of the New Zealand office of McKinsey.

Ian joined Commonwealth Bank, one of the largest banks in Australia and the world in 2007. He was Group Head of Strategy and was responsible for corporate strategy development, mergers and acquisitions and major cross-business strategic initiatives. He led the Group’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Bankwest in 2008 and the Group’s investment in Aussie Home Loans.

Then on January 2009 until September 2011 Ian was Group Executive, Business and Private Banking, which is one of the Group’s six operating divisions. It has about 200,000 business customers, 1 million trading customers, and employs over 4,000 people.

For his outstanding work Ian became the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Commonwealth Bank on December 2011. 

Michael Creel: Enterprise Products Holdings CEO

Michael Creel graduated from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant.  One thing nice with an accounting degree is its need in any business. You will need someone with an accounting background in any business sooner or later.

For Michael he made use of his accounting and business skills in the energy industry.  After working in various energy related companies and rising in stature along the way he was finally appointed CEO and a Director of Enterprise Products Holdings LLC on November 2010.  Enterprise Products Holdings was born out of a number of mergers and acquisitions.

While not popularly known the company that Michael heads is quite impressive. Since its IPO in July 1998 the company’s asset base has been increasing from $715 million to $38 billion as of March 31, 2013.  Acquisitions and organic growth have been responsible for this increase.

The company Michael leads has 50,000 miles of natural gas, NGL, crude oil, refined products and petrochemical pipelines. Its salt dome storage has 200 million barrels (MMBbls) of NGL, refined products and crude oil storage capacity and 14 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas storage capacity among other capabilities. 

R.K. Singh: Former Bharat Petroleum Head

In 1974 R.K. Singh completed his B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering with Honours from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He then had a brief stint in Hindstan Lever and Hindalco after which he began his career at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPLC) in 1978.  Singh then started his journey up the corporate ladder holding a number of important positions in both the Marketing and Refinery division at BPCL.

Singh has played a crucial role in the implementation of the project for setting up a new 6 MMPT grass roots refinery at Bina through Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL), a joint venture company of BPCL and Oman Oil Company. Singh also played a significant role in the entry of BPCL into the upstream business of exploration and production which is being done through Bharat PetroResources Limited (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary company of BPCL.  

Great talent gets recognized and for Singh it led to being appointed as Chairman & Managing Director of BPCL on December 9, 2010. Before he was appointed to the position, Singh was the Director (Refineries) of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. He was promoted to this position on March 6, 2006 and was responsible for the operations of the refineries in Mumbai and Kochi and that of Numaligarh Refinery Limited, as subsidiary of BPCL. Aside from this he also directed the research and development, corporate planning and international trade functions.

BPCL is a state-controlled listed company in India. For it to be state controlled means it must be a very large company which it is. Thus Singh’s achievement in the company has had to some degree also impacted on the whole Indian oil industry as well.

BPCL was originally Burhmah Shell Group of Companies which was taken over by the Indian government on January 24, 1976.  It was renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited on August 1, 1997. It was also the first refinery to process new found indigenous crude (Bombay High), in the country.

In October 1, 2013 S. Varadarajan took over as head of BPCL succeeding Singh.