It’s All About Bargains For Carol Meyrowitz

Most women are in the lookout for great bargains. There are actually branded clothes that can be bought at deep discounts when they are no longer in season or stocks levels need to be lowered. Like any woman Carol Meyrowitz is also after bargains, but it’s not just when she does shopping. It’s also when making deals with manufacturers. She after all is the CEO of TJX the top off-price retailing store in the U.S.

Carol began her career with TJX in 1983 starting out as a buyer.  Then in 1987 she started holding senior management positions with Marmaxx, Chadwick’s of Boston, and Hit or Miss until 2001. These were former divisions of TJX. Carol climbed further up the TJX hierarchy. She became executive vice president from 2001 to 2004 and then senior executive vice president from 2004 to 2005.  Carol was also president of The Marmaxx Group from 2001 to 2005.

Then her rapid rise came to an abrupt halt. From January 2005 to October 2005, her employment status changed to that of an advisor for TJX and she also did consultancy work for private equity firm, Berkshire Partners LLC.  This was actually part of her plan to look for a career outside of TJX.

TJX must have very much valued her talent; by October 17, 2005 she was appointed as president and became a member of the board of directors the following year.  On January 2007 Carol was promoted as the new CEO to TJX.

She heads a powerhouse retail chain that has over 1,700 stores. While TJX is associated with deep discounted prices, Carol has talent that the TJX board simply couldn’t discount.

Randall Stephenson: Leading AT&T

College degrees count but it’s not the only indicator for success.  People who are successful put in a lot of hard work and have a track record of achievements as they rise through the corporate ranks. A company like AT&T is more on the technology side of things. Yet it is led be someone who was into accounting and learned what he needed to know along the way.

Randall Stephenson graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting.  Later on he would also earn a Masters in Accountancy from the University of Oklahoma.  Stephenson started his corporate career with Southern Bell Telephone (SBC) in 1982.

From there he climbed the corporate ladder getting a number of leadership promotions in finance. Stephenson also got international exposure having been assigned in Mexico City as the director of finance for SBC International.  He was in charge of looking over the company’s ownership interest in Teléfonos de México. 

Stephenson then became the controller for SBC, then senior vice president for Consumer Marketing.  He became senior executive vice president and chief financial officer for SBC from 2001 to 2004. It was during this time there that the company was able to reduce its net debt from $30 billion to nearly zero in the early part of 2004. This financial condition allowed the company to make key acquisitions of AT&T wireless, AT&T Corp. and BellSouth.

From 2004 to 2007 Stephenson was the COO even through the acquisitions of AT&T and BellSouth. For all his hard work and accomplishments he got appointed as chairman and CEO of the company in 2007. SBC is now known as AT&T.  Ironically AT&T was the parent company otherwise known as Ma Bell which used to dominate the telecommunications scene in the U.S.; it was broken up and SBC and BellSouth were amount the spun off entities.

While not possessing a technology background Stephenson understands the technology game very well.  He has strengthened the company’s position as the world’s largest telecommunications company.  He also transformed the company into an international leader in mobile Internet services and IP-based business and communications solutions.

This accountant has become very astute and accomplished in the field of technology.

Patricia Woertz: Conquering The World Of Men

We try at best to emphasize that a person is hired or promoted based on qualification; it’s hard not notice the achievements of Patricia Woertz in what is basically the world of men. 

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1953 Woertz was often taken on summer tours by her parents to look at the business side of America. They visited an oil refinery and at another time a window factory. She also saw the headquarters of Gulf Oil and Mellon Bank.

In 1974 she graduated from Pennsylvania State University with an accounting degree. Woertz was already something of odd thumb back then. She took the job offer coming from Ernst & Young and was one of only two women comprising the 200 recruits.

One of the accounting firm’s clients was Gulf Oil Corp. who eventually hired her in 1977. Woertz proved her worth.  Even when Gulf Oil merged with Chevron she was given the critical task of looking for ways to pay down debt while divesting assets to meet federal regulatory requirements.  By 1991 Woertz became head of strategic planning at Chevron.

She then became president of Chevron Canada and later Chevron International in 1995.  In 2001, Woertz became executive vice president in charge of downstream operations when Chevron merged with Texaco. She had a rough first year in charge of 19 refineries in 180 countries. Losses caused her to act decisively including the firing of senior executives.  By 2004 profit stood at $3.25 billion.

She retired from Chevron on February 2006 only to wind up as CEO and president of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) on April 2006; the chairmanship was added in 2007. ADM is one of the world’s largest farm-commodities processors.

Company Man At The Top

There are many stories of company outsiders recruited to run a particular company. Nothing is more encouraging to employees when the CEO rose through their ranks. This gives ambitious lower ranked employees hope and inspiration that they too will lead the company one day.

This is exactly what happened to William C. Weldon who worked all his life at Johnson & Johnson (J&J).  One thing about this company is it never hired an outsider to lead it since its founding in 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Working his entire career at J&J allowed him to prove himself as an able executive and become the company’s only 6^th chairman in 2002.

Weldon was not particularly an academic achiever in school and was more inclined to sports.  He got married while in college studying at Quinnipiac University.  He said marriage made him more serious with his studies. After graduating with a bachelor of science degree in 1971 he got a job in the sales and marketing department at McNeil Pharmaceutical a division of J&J. 

From their Weldon quickly rose through the ranks.  By 1982 he was the manager of J&J’s ICOM Regional Development Center in Southeast Asia. More promotions followed. Weldon became president of Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) a newly formed J&J company in 1992. Although coming from a pharmaceutical background Weldon worked hard to make the company a market leader in the medical-instruments market overtaking the number one company by 1996.

This stunning achievement led to more promotions and in 1998 he became worldwide chairman of J&J’s Pharmaceutical Group and became a member of the company’s executive committee. The group was lagging in performance and Weldon was tasked to revive it. He engineered the acquisition of Centocor which had a number of promising drugs. Weldon led another major acquisition in 2001 when J&J acquired Alza Corporation which was known for its transdermal patches. 

Weldon was eventually appointed CEO and chairman of J&J in January 2002. His tenure has been marked by growth and major acquisitions. It has also been rocked by recalls of liquid children’s Tylenol, other medications, and products like contact lenses. He relinquished the CEO post in April 2012 while remaining as chairman.

Brains From Brazil

Melanie Healey was born on April 5, 1961 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Like practically all women from Brazil, Healey is good looking.  Yet she’s more known for her brains and business management skills than her looks.

She took up Business Administration at the University of Richmond, Virginia and graduated in 1983. Returning to  Rio de Janeiro, Healey worked for S.C. Johnson & Sons from 1983 to 1986. Then it was at Johnson & Johnson in Sao Paulo.

Healey joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) on July 1990. She started as the brand manager for Phebo Soap and in 1992 became the marketing manager for Pampers.  You can tell a person is performing well if this person gets a foreign assignment. In 1993, Healey was made marketing manager for Personal Cleansing & Fabric Softeners in Mexico. By 1995 she was back in Brazil with the rank of marketing director for Health Care. More promotions came her way including president, Global Feminine Care GBU and group president, Global Feminine and Health Care.

In 2009, Healey was named group president, North America and in 2011 she became group president, North America and Global Hyper-Super-Mass Chanel. North America represents 41 percent of P&G’s total revenue. It’s a critical group and the trust and confidence has been placed on Healey to continue its growth and profitability. With a number of marketing initiatives proving to be successful we may hear more about Healey climbing the corporate ladder.

Torrence Boone: Profile of a Digital Advertising Executive

Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Torrence Boone demonstrated notable creative ability as child that continues to serve him well in his current professional pursuits. A gifted dancer who honed his skills at the Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Boone eventually left the performing arts for a career in marketing that has taken him from a managerial role with Boston-based consultancy Bain & Company to his present executive post with Google Inc. The tech leader’s Managing Director of Agency Business Development since January 2010, Torrence Boone works to secure meaningful partnerships with advertisers seeking to bolster consumer interest via a digital platform.

An individual whose resume of achievements indicates an enthusiastic willingness to think outside the box, Torrence Boone channeled a considerable amount of time and energy toward dancing throughout high school and on into his college years. As an Economics student at Stanford University, he lent his talents to several professional dance troupes despite the demands of a full academic course load. After enrolling at Harvard Business School in 1993, Boone opted to take a brief sabbatical away from his studies to attend The School at Jacob’s Pillow, a program recognized as one of the best of its kind in the United States.  

Putting his Harvard M.B.A. to use, Torrence Boone landed a position with Bain & Company in 1995. He joined Avenue A/NYC (now Razorfish) in 1999 where he acted as Vice President and General Manager until 2001. Boone’s next career move took him to Digitas in Boston. Serving as President of the company for the next seven years, he departed to help lead Dell’s now defunct integrated marketing agency Enfatico prior to the onset of his tenure with Google. 

Today, Torrence Boone resides in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood and remains actively involved with the performing arts as a member of the Joyce Theater’s board. A yoga devotee who still dabbles in modern dance or hip-hop on a recreational basis, Boone also enjoys rock climbing, snowboarding, and writing. 

Following His Own Strategy

James J. Mulva first served in the U.S. Navy then worked for only one company until retirement.  His stint in the U.S. Navy in Bahrain exposed him to the oil industry. This led James to getting a job at Phillips Petroleum Company in 1973.

Only a chosen few who enter a company wind up leading it; James is one of the few. His business and financial skills made him stand out and led to numerous promotions. Along the way he learned as much as he could about the business and also observed how other companies in the oil industry were being run and managed.

By 1980 he was vice president and treasurer of the Europe/Africa division of Phillips until 1984. In 1990 he became the chief financial officer.  James became senior vice president in 1993 then executive vice president in 1994. He reached the highest position of chairman and CEO in 1999 until 2002.

James used his own strategy which was not to follow the trend in the oil industry. When many companies were investing in the Middle East, he concentrated on other areas like China; participating in the first offshore oil field in that country.  James also focused on Venezuela, the North Sea, North America, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

While he followed organic grow James took the path of mergers and acquisitions as well. James led the company’s acquisition of the Alaskan oil-and-gas production assets of Atlantic Richfield Company in 2000. To further increase size and revenue the company combined with Conoco another oil entity and became ConocoPhillips in 2002. James served as president and CEO of the merged companies and became chairman in 2004. Under his stewardship the third largest energy company in the U.S. was created.

Among James’s other initiatives was joining a U.S. Department Energy pilot project in 2004 to look into the use of hydrogen as transport fuel.  An even much earlier initiative was to get the then Phillips Petroleum into plastics and chemicals manufacturing.

From acquiring companies to make ConocoPhillips into an energy giant James led the splitting of the company into two; one that produces oil and another that refines it.  Like a good leader he adjusted with the current environment. He retired in May 2012 after the creation of the two independent companies.