Peter Terium: RWE CEO

Peter Terium was born in Nederweert, the Netherlands in 1963. Peter wanted to be a chartered accountant so he enrolled at the Nederlands Institut voor Registeraccountants in Amsterdam and worked at the same time as an independent auditor for the Dutch Ministry of Finance. He became an audit supervisor at KPMG, Einhoven, Netherlands in 1985. 

From 1990 to 2002, Peter worked in various senior international finance positions in the packaging industry for Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, Ratigen, Germany.

In January 1, 2003, he joined the RWE Group as Head of Group Controlling at RWE AG. The following year he also became a member of the Executive Board of RWE Umwelt AG. Peter was deeply involved in the restructuring and selling of RWE Umwelt AG. 

After several more promotions with increasing responsibility on September 1, 2011, he was appointed Member of the Executive Board and Deputy CEO of the Board of RWE AG. In July 1, 2013, Peter was appointed Chief Executive Officer of RWE AG. 

RWE AG is a major German utilities company and the services of Peter is still very much wanted. While he is due to finish his term on August 31, 2016. A new contract extends his term for another five years. 

Paul Polman: Unilever CEO

Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman was born on July 11, 1956 in Enschede, Netherlands. He earned a BBA/BA in 1977 from the University of Groningen.  At the University of Cincinnati he obtained an MA in Economics and an MBA in Finance and International Marketing (both) in 1979.

At one point Paul wanted to become a priest then decided to join the business world. He was working nights for Procter & Gamble (P&G) then joined its finance department in 1979.  He began as a Cost Analyst and worked for the company for 27 years. His last promotion was as Group President Europe in 2001.

Paul then joined Nestle in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer and Head of the Americas. Then on January 1, 2009 he became CEO of Unilever. Paul is credited with turning around the company’s fortune. Since joining in 2009 Paul has overseen the company’s share prices increase by around 50 percent. As head of the world’s third-largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company he has strongly pushed the sustainability agenda. 

Ben van Beurden: Royal Dutch Shell CEO

Ben van Beurden was born on April 23, 1958 in the Netherlands. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands he joined Royal Dutch Shell.

Ben is considered a “lifer” at Shell having stayed with the company throughout his career. This has given Ben the advantage of knowing the company inside out. His career at Shell exposed him to both Upstream and Downstream activities He began working in the Netherlands and at the Port Sudan Refinery in Sudan. He has been based in Africa, Malaysia, the U.S. and the U.K. Ben has held a number of operational and commercial position and a variety of positions in the Downstream.

He was appointed Vice President, Manufacturing and Excellence, based in Houston, Texas in 2005. In this role Ben was responsible for standards and operational excellence and high-performance initiatives in refining and chemicals manufacturing.

In December 2006, Ben became Executive Vice President, Chemicals, based in London, UK. He is credited with turning around Shell’s struggling chemicals division. From a loss making enterprise in 2008, the Chemicals business now contributes 5 percent of net earnings. Ben also worked for 10 years in Shell’s liquefied natural gas business, which has become a crucial driver of the group’s growth.

He was Downstream Director and had responsibility for Europe and Turkey from January to September 2013. Ben has been a member of the Executive Committee since January 2013. He became Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2014.

His promotion came as a surprise as there were others higher in rank and listed as front runners. His name was not on the list. Ben is not that well known as other Shell executive outside of the company. Top management though chose someone with solid company experience and proven track record.

Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest companies in the world generating revenue of $451.2 billion in 2013.

Dick Boer: Koninklijke Ahold N.V. CEO

Dick Boer lives in the Netherlands and is married with four children. He studied the Executive MBA at program IBO (Ziest).  Dick joined Ahold in 1998 and has worked his way up the corporate ladder. 

He was the CEO of Ahold Czech Republic from 1998 to 2000.  Next he was the President and CEO of Albert Heijn (an Ahold company) from 2000 to 2003. Dick’s good performance as an executive can readily be seen in his promotions. After his stint at Albert Heijn he was appointed President and CEO of Ahold’s Dutch operating companies from 2003 to 2006.  Then from 2006 to 2011 Dick was the COO of Ahold Europe. On March 2011 until present he has been the CEO of Ahold.

Ahold is a huge corporation. It is an international retailer based in the Netherlands that runs around 3,000 stores (most of it supermarkets) all over Europe and the U.S.  Dick is running a company that has been adjusting to changing times. One aspect of the supermarket retail business is the margins are thin and competition is fierce. So Dick has to make sure they are executing the right moves.

The change Ahold is undergoing was set into motion in 2006 when the board of Ahold asked management to make a full review of the company. Prior to that Ahold was a mixed bag of different brands, different structures and even different businesses with food retail in Europe and food service in the U.S.

At the end of 2006 Ahold decided to focus on food retail and in markets where it was or could become number one or number two.  This focus led to the sale of its wholesale division, US Foodservice in mid-2007.  Ahold USA and Ahold Europe became clearly delineated. After the restructuring the company is now focusing on growth with the strategy of “reshaping retail”.

Ahold has closed its hypermarkets and focusing on supermarkets, convenience and smaller-store concepts. It also recognized the importance of the online market. Dick wants Ahold to be as close to its customers as possible.

Dick runs a huge company and it’s not an easy task guiding it to reach its goal and so far he has done an admirable job. 

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.