The men who matter in the Corus-Tata deal
At Corus, after its somewhat traumatic past, it’s only in the past few years that the company and its new management team have managed to turn it around.
By Sudeshna Sen, TNN |
LONDON: At Corus, after its somewhat traumatic past, it’s only in the past few years that the company and its new management team have managed to turn it around.
The men who matter in the Corus-Tata scheme of things are Chairman James Leng, who has been leading from the front on talks with the Tatas, Philippe Varin, CEO, and David Lloyd, chief financial officer. Jim Leng, as he is known, is a highly-respected figure in the UK, known for his strong decisive personality.
Mr Leng was appointed a non-executive director of the company in June ’01, made deputy chairman and senior independent director in April ’02 and chairman in June ’03.
He is a non-executive director of Alstom, Pilkington and Hanson where he is serving as the senior independent director. He was the chief executive of Laporte from 1995 until June ’01. In May ’05, he retired as a director and chairman of IMI.
Mr Varin is known as the man who really worked to turn Corus around, from a time when the company was on its knees. “The people at Corus have been through a lot of trauma,” says one company observer. He is considered an initiative man, with international perspective.
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Philippe Varin was appointed chief executive of the company in May ’03. Prior to this assignment, he was the senior executive vice-president, Aluminium Sector of Pechiney and a member of its executive committee. He joined Pechiney in 1978 in the R&D section, and held a number of positions in France and in the US, including those of marketing, project construction, strategy and control leading to general management.Mr Lloyd, executive director (finance), is one of the few old British Steel men, and is seen as an extremely sound financial whiz in industry circles. Mr Lloyd was appointed executive director of the company in February ’01, subsequent to becoming a member of the executive committee in December ’00.
He joined British Steel in 1985 and has held a number of senior financial positions within the firm. He was a non-executive director of AvestaPolarit Oyj Abp in ’01 and ’02.
Other members of the Corus board, the men who are right now debating what to tell their shareholders, include Dr Anthony Hayward, Dr Kurt Lauk, Andrew Robb, Jacques Schraven and Richard Shoylekov.
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