Tidjane Thiam

"Tidjane Thiam (born July 29 [1962] fils de Amadou Anna Thiam et de Marietou Sow] , Côte d'Ivoire) is managing director, Aviva International, and chief executive Aviva Europe. He was Minister of Planning and Development of Côte d'Ivoire from August 1998 until the coup d'état in December 1999. He was co-chair with Ernesto Zedillo of an international task force on Global Public Goods.

In 1984 Thiam received an Engineering degree from the École Polytechnique in Paris and in 1986 a degree in Civil Engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris where he was top of his class. In 1988 he received an MBA from INSEAD.

In 1986 Thiam joined McKinsey & Company in Paris. In 1989 he took a one-year sabbatical from McKinsey to participate in the World Bank's Young Professionals Program in Washington, D.C.

In 1994 Thiam returned to Côte d'Ivoire to become Ivorian Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development (the BNETD). In 1997 he became President of the National Council on Information Superhighways and National Secretary for Human Resources Development.

In 1998 World Economic Forum in Davos named him as one of the annual 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow, and in 1999 the Forum named him a member of the Dream Cabinet.

In August 1998 he became Minister of Planning and Development of Côte d'Ivoire, and was appointed Chairman of the BNETD. In October 1999 Thiam became one of 20 members of the External Advisory Council of the World Bank Institute in Washington, D.C.

Thiam left Côte d'Ivoire after the December 1999 coup. In May 2000, he rejoined McKinsey in Paris as a partner, and in 2002 went to work for Aviva as Group Strategy and Development Director. He is currently managing director, Aviva International, and chief executive Aviva Europe. On September 2007, Tidjane Thiam has been named Financial Director of Prudential, an insurer rival to Aviva.Mr Thiam is expected to join Prudential in April 2008.

Thiam is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), an independent authority on Africa launched in April 2007 to focus world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled "Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects" [APP, Press Release: Africa Progress Panel demands action on global food crisis “reversing decades of economic progress”, 16 June 2008, http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/english/newsreleases.php] .

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External links

* [http://www.commissionforafrica.org/english/commissioners/bios/thiam.html Biography at Commission for Africa site]