Nikolaus von Bombard: Munich Re CEO

Nikolaus von Bombard was born in 1956 in Gunzenhausen, Germany. He studied law at the universities of Munich and Regenburg, finishing with a doctorate degree.

Nikolaus then began his climb up the corporate ladder at Munich Re starting out in the graduate trainee program in 1985. Later he started working as an underwriter in the Operational Division: Fire/Treaty. Nikolaus was appointed Deputy Head of the Operational Division: Germany. 

In 1997 he took on the job of building up and managing the Munich Re office in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He was appointed to the Board of Management in 2000 and from 2001 was responsible for the Europe 2/Latin America Division. On January 2004 Nikolaus reached the top post being appointed Chairman of the Board of Management.

He has help guide of the one of the world’s largest reinsurer through difficult times and has pursued initiatives to help combat global warming.  One project that his has been involved with is in Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), a desert power scheme, which aims to produce enough electricity to meet 15 percent of the world’s energy requirements. 

W. Edmund Clark: TD Bank Group CEO

W. Edmund Clark was born on October 10, 1947 in Ontario, Canada. In 1969 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto. Ed obtained his Master’s degree from Harvard University in 1971 and went on to earn his Doctorate in Economics from the same university in 1974.

He joined the government after graduating and worked as a civil servant until 1984. Ed held a number of senior positions in the federal government. He then joined Merrill Lynch in 1985. Three years later he was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Financial Corporation. Ed held this position until he joined Canada Trust Financial Services in 1991.

Continuing his upward trajectory Ed became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Trust Financial Services. TD (Toronto-Dominion Bank) acquired Canada Trust Financial Services in February 2000. He then joined TD Bank Group as Chairman and Chief Executive officer of TD Canada Trust. In this role Ed led the successful integration of the TD and Canada Trust banking operations. He then served as President and Chief Operation Officer beginning July 2000.

Ed was named Group President and Chief Executive Officer of TD Bank Group on December 20, 2002. He announced his intention to retire as President and CEO effective November 1, 2014 at the age of 67. Ed will have served as CEO for around 12 years.

He has received honorary degrees from Mount Allison University, Queen’s University, and the University of Western Ontario.

Ed was the 2010 Cabinet Chair of United Way Toronto, and is currently a member of the Chair’s Advisory Council for Habitat for Humanity Toronto, and provides support to WoodGreen Community Services, an organization that delivers programs to build sustainable communities in the Toronto area. He is also chair of the Advisory Board for the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. In 2014, Ed was elected to the Board of Trustee of U.S. policy organization, the Brookings Institute. 

Yasuhiro Sato: Mizuho Financial Group CEO

Yasuhiro Sato was born in April 1952 and earned a degree in economics from Tokyo University in 1976. After graduating, Yasuhiro began his career at the Industrial Bank of Japan. He continued working for the company which eventually combined with Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd and Fuji Bank Ltd in 2000 to form Mizuho.

Yasuhiro gained international banking experience working in New York in the late 1980s building close ties with global financial institutions. Rising through the ranks he became executive officer of the international banking unit of Mizuho Corporate Bank in March 2003.  Yashiro was appointed Mizuho Corporate Bank’s managing executive officer in April 2004.

He became the CEO of Mizuho Corporate Bank in April 2009. In this capacity he announced plans to enter emerging markets in the ASEAN region.  In May 2011 Yasuhiro became the CEO of Mizuho Financial Group.  As a sign that times were going to be tough he took a 30 percent salary cut for his first three months as CEO.  He also announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs in November.

Making tough decisions, Yasuhiro has been working hard to streamline Mizuho Financial Group and make the most of its huge resources.

                                                                                               

Cheng Hong: SAIC Motor Chairman

Cheng Hong was born in March 1961 in Jianshan, Zhejiang Province, China. He is of Han nationality. Cheng holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and is a senior engineer (professor) and also a senior economist and a Party member of CPC. He has served in various positions such as: HR executive management assistant, dean of the policy research office, manager of Leadership Management Section, deputy manager and then the manager of the engine plant of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., deputy general manager of Shanghai Automotive Industry Pudong Sedan Project Team, deputy general manager and then general manager of Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., vice president of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group).

As can be noted Cheng had roles of increasing responsibility and has experienced positions in different areas of the automotive organization.  He then became vice chairman and vice-secretary of the Party committee of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group); vice chairman, president, vice-secretary of the Party committee of SAIC Motor Corporation Limited.  Cheng eventually got the top post and is now the Party secretary and chairman of SAIC Motor.

Cheng leads a huge corporation even by global standards; SAIC Motor is the largest auto group on the Chinese A-share stock market. The company offers research, production, sales and logistics services of vehicles (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) and components (engines, gearboxes, powertrains, chassis, interior and exterior and electronic components). SAIC Motor also provides vehicle telemetrics, secondhand vehicle transactions and auto finance services.

The firm has kept its leading position in the domestic Chinese auto industry. It sold 5.11 million vehicles in 2013, a 13.7 percent increase over the past 12 months. It also produced $92.02 billion in revenue.

SAIC Motor’s affiliated vehicle companies include Morris Garages, SAIC Commercial Vehicle Co, Shanghai Volkswagen Co, Shanghai General Motors Co, Shanghai General Motors Wuling (SGMW), NAVECO Ltd, SAIC-IVECO Hongyan and Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corporation (SUNWIN).

Cheng Hong’s name may not a ring a bell to the rest of the world population but he runs a company the size of which only few executives can ever experience running. 

Sam Duncan: Supervalu Inc. CEO

Sam Duncan lives and breathes retail. At the age of 15 he started his career as a courtesy clerk at Albertsons. He held various positions in the company climbing up the corporate ladder. Then in 1992 Sam moved to Fred Meyer, a division of Kroger as Vice President of Grocery. He was eventually promoted as President of Fred Meyer Division. From 1998 to 2001 he was President of Ralph’s Grocery Company, one of the largest food retailers in Southern California.

From 2002 to 2005 Sam was President and Chief Executive Officer of ShopKo Stores, Inc., a $3 billion Midwest retailer. Then from 2005 to 2011 he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of OfficeMax, an office supplies retailer in North America with over 1,000 stores in the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with over $7 billion in revenues.

Sam has joined an even bigger company and is now President and Chief Executive Officer of SUPERVALU, Inc. since February, 2013. He has also been a director since July 2013.

SUPERVALU is a grocery industry giant with more than 3,400 owned, licensed, franchised and affiliated stores throughout the U.S.

Michael White: DirectTV CEO

Michael White earned a BA Degree from Boston College and has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from John Hopkins University. Michael has been a management consultant at Bain & Company and Arthur Anderson & Co.  He has also been Senior Vice President of Avon Products Inc.

In 1990 Michael joined Frito-Lay North America as Vice President for Planning. He was Chief Financial Officer for Frito-Lay North America from 1993 to December 1996. Michael was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pepsi-Cola Company worldwide from February 1997 to March 1998 and Pepsi Foods International from December to February 1997.

He was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo Inc from March 1998 to February 2000 where he was responsible for its treasury, tax, control, audit, information technology and investor relations functions. Michael then became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Europe, Africa and Middle East division at Frito-Lay International from 2000 to 2003.

He was an asset at PepsiCo having been assigned in various executive roles and was Chairman and Chief Executive Office of PepsiCo International Limited, a subsidiary of PepsiCo., Inc  from February 2003 to September 2009. In this capacity Michael was in charge of all its beverages, snack and food operations outside the U.S. and Canada.

While his career at PepsiCo has been outstanding Michael left the company to take on another challenging role; he joined DirectTV. He is currently the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and has served as Director since November 18, 2009.

The firm is one of the world’s leading providers of digital television entertainment services with more than 32 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America.  DirectTV provides over 285 channels with more than 185 HD channels in Dolby-Digital 5.1 theater-quality sound, access to exclusive programming and a comprehensive collection of sports programming such as NFL Sunday Ticket, and NBA League Pass.

While spending a good portion of his career in the beverage and food industry Michael moved into the direct satellite television industry without skipping a beat. Now that’s exceptional management talent.