EUROPEAN LEADERS - Key Persons
Angela Dorothe Kasner was born in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1954. She was the daughter of Horst and Herlind Kasner. Eventually, two more children were born to the family: a son named Marcus Kasner and a daughter named Irene Kasner.
Job Titles:
- Chancellor
- Chancellor of Germany
Angela Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 22 November 2005, and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party since 10 April 2000. In March 2014, she became the longest-serving incumbent head of government in the European Union. She is currently also the senior G7 leader. On 20 November 2016, Merkel announced that she would seek re-election to a fourth term as Chancellor of Germany.
After the German reunification in 1990, Angela Merkel was elected to the Bundestag and has been reelected ever since. She holds a doctorate in physical chemistry and was a research scientist prior to her full-time political career.
In 2007, Merkel was President of the European Council and chaired the G8. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. During the financial crisis of 2007/2008, Merkel emerged as the de facto leader of the European Union and she was referred to as "the decider".
In December 2015, Time Magazine named her Person of the Year and called her The Chancellor of the Free World. Merkel has also been named the world's second most powerful person by Forbes, first in 2012 (below Barack Obama) and then again in 2015 (below Vladimir Putin).
Angela Merkel is a Lutheran member of the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia (Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz - EKBO). EKBO is a United Protestant church body under the umbrella of the Evangelical Church in Germany. As a United Protestant church, it is both Reformed and Lutheran.
Angela Merkel is a devoted football fan and sometimes attends games of the national German team.
George Soros and Annaliese Witschak married in 1960. She was a German (non-Jewish) immigrant whose parents died during the war. The couple divorced in 1983.
Job Titles:
- Member of the National Assembly for Corrèze 's 1st Constituency
Charlotte Söderström runs a stud farm and works with H&M sponsorships. She is married and has three children. The family resides in Stockholm, Sweden.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board at Luxottica
Del Vecchio has been the Chairman of the Board at Luxottica group since 1961, but was only appointed as Executive Chairman in 2016, at the nimble age of 81. This visionary of the vision world, received the honor of Cavailere dell'ORdine al "Merito del Lavoro" (Knight of the Order for Labor Merit) from then President of the Republic of Italy, in 1986. Receiving countless honorary degrees through two decades, Leonardo Del Vecchio currently sits at #45 in the Forbes List of Billionaires and holds positions as Chairman of Delfin S.à.r.l, Aterno S.à.r.l., Leonardo Del Vecchio Foundation and as the Director of GiVi Holding S.p.A.
Job Titles:
- Owner of the Schwarz - Gruppe
There are very few people in the world who have achieved the level of success and wealth Dieter Schwarz has achieved while continuing to keep their personal and private life out of the media. With only 2 known pictures taken of him, this German multibillionaire has managed to do just that. Dieter Schwarz has taken a family business thrust into his hands by the sudden death of his father and turned it into a world-famous success story. One of the most celebrated businessmen in Germany's history, Dieter Schwarz has proven time and time again that great success can be achieved through hard work, commitment and intelligence.
Dieter Schwarz was born in Heilbronn, Germany, in 1939, to father Josef Schwarz. Schwarz's father was the co-founder of the Schwarz-Gruppe, or Lidl & Schwarz grocery in 1930. After finishing high school Schwarz joined his father's business, basing his business strategy on the success of his biggest competitors Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued. He opened his first Lidl discount store in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1973. Following his father's untimely death in 1977, Schwarz took over as Lidl's Chairman and CEO. Shortly after he came to power, he bought the naming rights from Ludwig Lidl, knowing that if you want to create an empire, you must do it on your own.
Taking advantage of the advances in the retail marketing sector of Germany, Schwarz used his love for learning and reading and struck several deals that would best fuel the growth of his company. In 1984, he opened discount chain Kaufland and began expanding his business throughout Europe through late 1980s and 1990s. First Lidl store opened outside of Germany was in France, and this was one of many to come.
As the owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe, CEO of the supermarket chain Lidl and the hypermarket chain Kaufland, Dieter Schwarz expanded his empire from Germany to almost every country in Europe, including France and England. After a long run at the top of the game, Schwarz decided to sell Lidl's stake in the company to a charitable foundation, this action was the sole reason he fell out of the list of richest men in Germany. He then converted the Dieter Schwarz Foundation into a charitable purpose, giving him full control over the shares and ability to sell them if he ever wanted. In 1999, he left his management position.
Known around the world for his brilliant decision making, business strategy and kindness, Dieter Schwarz has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity in addition to setting up his own graduate school for business and law. The Dieter Schwarz Foundation still supports education and daycare facilities for children, as well as science and research projects.
While sharing the wealth he has acquired through the decades, Mr. Schwarz still remains one of the wealthiest man in the world. With an estimated net worth of $16.1 billion, he is still ranked as the #46 richest man in the world and 5th richest man in Germany, according to Forbes. Married to his wife for over 50 years Mr. Schwarz has two daughters, whom, thanks to his private lifestyle, have been kept out of the spotlight and media of the world. In 2007 he was made an honorary citizen of Heilbronn for his philanthropic giving and still resides in Heilbronn with his wife Franziska.
Job Titles:
- Leader of United Russia
- Prime Minister of Russia
- Secretary of the Security Council
Chasing success from industry to industry is not often heard off, as most people usually focus on one field and make their wealth that way. Duncan Bannatyne didn't do much the usual way. From a paper route he had to fight to earn, to the Navy, ice cream trucks and Health Clubs, Mr. Bannatyne has dipped his fingers in job after job till his early 30s. Duncan Bannatyne is known as an entrepreneur, investor, television presenter, an accomplished author and a philanthropist
Born in Clydebank. Scotland in February 2nd 1949, Duncan's family was not born to a relatively poor family. As a child Duncan lived in a single room with his parents and siblings, in a large house shared between six other families. While attending Clydebank High School which he won the chance to go to in the Eleven plus Exam, he realized all his pupils had bicycles. Knowing his mother would not be able to afford one, he set out on his own to get a job and buy himself one. After convincing a local newsagent to give him a paper route in return for 100 new customers, he purchased himself a bike and got a taste for earning and working.
At the young age of 15 he left High School and enlisted with the Royal Navy as a junior 2nd class engineering mechanic stoker, at RNTW Shotley near Ipswich. After a dozen years serving his country he was honorably discharged for threatening to throw an officer off a boat landing jetty in Scotland. This action that came from his dislike of treatment from the officer, a dare from other shipmates and the wanting to leave the Navy, he spent nice months in the Colchester military detention center. At 20 years old he was discharged and ready to begin his business career.
Job Titles:
- Fellow
- President
- Journalist
- Member of the Socialist Party
- President of France
François Hollande became the President of France on 15 May 2012. Simultaneously, he became co-prince of Andorra.
François Hollande has been a member of the Socialist Party since the 1970s and was its First Secretary from 1997 to 2008. His political career took off when he became a special adviser to the newly elected President François Mitterrand in the early 1980s.
In the 2007 presidential elections, Hollandes then domestic partner and fellow Socialist Party member Ségolène Royal ran against Nicolas Sarkozy and lost. In the following presidential election, Hollande defeated Sarkozy who was seeking to be re-elected for another term.
During Hollandes time as President of France, French combat troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and same-sex marriage was legalized. On December 1, 2016, Hollande announced he would not seek re-election in the upcoming 2017 French presidential election.
François Hollande was inaugurated on 15 May 2012. Hollande's Council of Ministers was the first ever in France to include as many women as men; 17 of each gender. The first measure enacted by the new government under Hollande was to lower the salaries of the President, the Prime Minister and other members of government by 30%.
François Hollande was in a relationship with French journalist Valérie Trierweiler 2007 - 2014. When Hollande assumed office as President of France in 2012, Trierweiler moved into Palais de l'Élysée with him and started accompany him on official travel. In early 2014, Hollande announced their separation after a tabloid revealed his affair with actress Julie Gayet. Gayet is a centre-left activist who appeared in a video supporting François Hollande during the 2012 French presidential election.
François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande was born in Rouen in Normandy on 12 August 1954.
His mother, Nicole Frédérique Marguerite Tribert (b. 1927), was a social worker, and his father, Georges Gustave Hollande (b. 1923), was a physician. In 1959, Georges Gustav Hollande ran for local election on a far right ticket.
In Rouen, François Hollande attended Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle, a private Catholic boarding school. When François Hollande was thirteen years old, he moved with his family to Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy Parisian suburb. After receiving his baccalaureate from Lycée Pasteur de Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1972, Hollande read law at Université Panthéon-Assas, commonly referred to as Sorbonne Law School. He graduated from Panthéon-Assas with a bachelor's degree in Law and continued his studies at HEC Paris, one of the most prestigious French business schools. During the summer of 1974, he took university courses in the United States.
Hollande was one of the volunteers working for Socialist Party leader François Mitterrand's campaign in the 1974 presidential election, an election won by liberal-conservative centre-right Valéry Giscard d'Estaing by a margin of 1.6%.
After graduating from HEC Paris in 1975, Hollande attended Institut d'études politiques de Paris and École nationale d'administration (ENA), graduating in 1980.
Job Titles:
- Co - Owners of Swedish Real Estate Companies
Stefan Persson is a part of several boards, chiefly for Swedish stock companies such as H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB (chairman), H&M Online Aktiebolag (chairman), Asser Investments AB (chairman), Bekå Aktiebolag, Bernum AB, Carl-Axel Hermode Aktiebolag (chairman), Malma Gårds lantbruk AB, Melker Schörling AB, Ramsbury AB (chairman), Ramsbury Invest AB (chairman) and Ramsbury Property AB (chairman).
He is also one of the co-owners of Swedish real estate companies Förvaltningskommanditbolaget Forstmästaren and Kommanditbolaget Malma-Fastigheter.
Stefan Persson is a member of Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien (Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences).
Job Titles:
- Investor
- Investor, Philanthropist and Political Activist
George Soros is an investor, philanthropist and political activist. He is the creator and chairman of Soros Fund Management and the force behind the enormously successful hedge fund Soros Fund.
In 2014, Soros was #27 on Forbes list of the riches people in the world, with an estimated net worth of 23 billion USD. Forbes also listed him as the world's richest hedge-fund manager and as the 7th riches United States citizen. By November 2016, Soros estimated net worth had grown to 24,9 billion USD.
In the early 1990s, Soros earned the moniker "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England" after short-selling 10 billion USD worth of Pound sterling on the FX market and netting a 1 billion USD profit during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.
Born in Hungary as Schwarz György, Soros holds dual Hungarian-United States citizenship. Between 1979 and 2011, Soros donated over 11 billion USD to philanthropic causes around the world. His donations played a significant role in Eastern Europe's transition from communism to capitalism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Soros is the chairman of the Open Society Foundations, and has provided one of Europe's largest higher education endowments to the Central European University in his native Budapest.
Soros is a well-known supporter of U.S. progressive and U.S. liberal causes and has strong ties to the Democratic Party in the United States.
George Soros created Soros Fund Management in 1970. After a few years, perceived conflicts of interest caused him to resign from the management of the Double Eagle Fund. Soros set up a new fund called the Soros Fund in 1973, and invited Double Eagle Fund investors to transfer their investment to the Soros Fund instead of staying with Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.
At it's high point for 1981 the Soros Fund - now called the Quantum Fund - contained 400 million USD. That year, the fund incurred a 22% loss which made several investors carry out major redemptions, until "only" 200 million USD was left in the fund.
By 2011, the fund had averaged over 20% per year compound returns. Due to changes in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules - changes which Soros felt would compromise his confidentiality duty towards investors - Soros return approximately 1 billion USD to investors. Simultaneously, he invested money from his own private fortune in the fund.
George Soros has married three times and divorced twice. He is currently married to Tamiko Bolton.
George Soros and Susan Weber married in 1983. She is 25 years younger than Soros. The couple divorced in 2005.
George Soros and Tamiko Bolton married in 2013. She is 42 years younger than Soros.
Job Titles:
- Electronics Engineer
- Managing Director of Philips Display Components Worldwide
- President and CEO of Philips
Gerard Kleisterlee is a Dutch businessman and electronics engineer famous for successfully turning Dutch technology company Philips into a high-growth company during his time as President and CEO in 2001 - 2011. In 2006, Fortune named him Europe Businessman of the Year.
Since leaving Philip's in 2011, Kleisterlee has been Chairman of British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone.
Kleisterlee was appointed Managing Director of Philips Display Components Worldwide in 1994. Two years later, he became President of Philips Taiwan and Regional Manager for Philips Components in Asia-Pacific in 1996. His focus on Asia continued with him being put in charge of the Philips Group in China and serving on the Hong Kong Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers.
Kleisterlee served as Director-general of Eindhoven Technical University and IMD Lausanne, and he currently serves as the Chairman of the Foundation of the Cancer Centre Amsterdam. He is also a Member of the Dutch Innovation Council (Innovatie Platform).
Job Titles:
- Leader of the Christian Democratic Union ( Germany )
Mario Draghi was born in Rome, Italy on 3 September 1947, to Gilda Mancini and Carlo Draghi. Gilda Mancini was a pharmacist. Carlo Draghi had started working for Banca d'Italia in 1922, and would later work for Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.
Mario Draghi has two younger siblings: a sister named Andreina who is an art historian, and a brother named Marcello who is an entrepreneur.
Mario Draghi went to the Istituto Massimiliano Massimo, a prestigious and exclusive Jesuit school in Rome, with roots dating back to 1551. The institute has one of the most prestigious alumni registries in Italy.
When in his mid-teens, Draghi lost his father, and his mother also died shortly afterwards.
After Istituto Massimiliano Massimo, Draghi studied at Sapienza - Università di Roma, where he graduated with a thesis titled "Economic integration and exchange rates changes". He wrote the thesis under the supervision of Frederico Caffé, who encouraged the young Draghi to pursue further studies abroad. After seeking the council of Nobel Prize laureate Franco Modigliani, Draghi went to the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. When he earned his PhD in economics there in 1976, he became the first Italian ever with a PhD in economics from MIT.
György Schwartz was born on 12 August 1930, in Budapest, in the Kingdom of Hungary. (In accordance with Hungarian naming customs, his name written Schwartz György, with the surname preceding the given name.)
His parents where non-observant Hungarian Jews belonging to the upper-middle class. His mother Elizabeth's (Erzsébet) family owned a successful silk shop. His father Tivadar (Teodoro) was a lawyer, and had been a prisoner of war in Russia during and in the aftermath of World War I.
Job Titles:
- First Secretary of the Socialist Party
Horst Kasner (b. 1926) was a Lutheran pastor from Berlin and Herlind Kasner (b. 1928) was a language teacher from Danzig (now Gdánsk). She taught both English and Latin.
The same year as Angela Kasner was born, her father received a pastorate at the church in Quitzow, Perleberg. The family therefore relocated to Templin and Angela grew up in East Germany. The family lived in the countryside roughly 50 miles north of East Berlin.
During her childhood and youth, Angela's friends called her Kasi, a nickname derived from her surname.
Religion was important in Angela's family and she was confirmed instead of taking part in the coming of age ceremony Jugendweihe, a secular ceremony encouraged by the ruling Socialist Unity Party.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Financial Stability Board
Job Titles:
- Minister of Foreign Affairs
Job Titles:
- Founder of Swedish
- Founder of Swedish Retail Company IKEA
Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of Swedish retail company IKEA. There are over 300 IKEA stores in the world, spread out over 35+ countries.
IKEA is privately held. Throughout it's history, IKEA has never been a traded stock company. IKEA's elaborate ownership structure makes it very difficult to establish exactly how rich Ingvar Kamprad is and how large a quantity of assets he is actually in control of. The ownership structure does for instance include several off-shore trust funds that aren't own by Kamprad himself, but that are ultimately under his control.
Ingvar Kamprad chairs the Stichting INKGA Foundation; one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. The Dutch-registered Stichting INKGA Foundation owns INGKA Holding, which is the parent company for all IKEA stores. It is a complex tax sheltering network that makes Kamprad's actual degree of control vague.
In 2010, Forbes placed Kamprad as #11 on their list of the world's richest persons, with an estimated 23 billion USD fortune. A year later, he was found down in spot #162 after his lawyers had produced documents stating that IKEA is owned by a foundation and that the foundation's bylaws bars Ingvar Kamprad and his family from benefiting from its funds. Despite this, Bloomberg put Ingvar Kamprad on spot #8 in their Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the year 2015, with an estimated net worth of well over 43 billion USD.
Ingvar Feodor Kamprad was born on 30 March 1926 in the county of Pjätteryd in south-eastern Sweden, where he grew up on a family farm named Elmtaryd (also spelled Älmtaryd). The closest village was Agunnaryd, in the Ljungby Municipality.
Ingvar Kamprad's paternal grandfather was a German immigrant, hence the name surname Kamprad.
At the age of six, Ingvar Kamprad began making tiny profits selling matches to his neighbors. He purchased matches in bulk from Stockholm and sold them individually to his neighbors. Just a few years later, he used his bicycle to traverse the countryside selling fish, Christmas decorations and seeds, and eventually also ballpoint pens and pencils.
IKEA was founded in 1943 at Ingvar's uncle Ernst's kitchen table. The 17 year old Ingvar had been rewarded with a small lump of cash from his father for doing well in school despite struggling with dyslexia. Kamprad used this cash to found the business he named IKEA. The name is derived from Ingvar - Kamprad - Elmtaryd - Agunnaryd.
Ingvar Kamprad and Kerstin Wadling married in 1950 and divorced in 1960. The same year as the divorce, Kamprad married 20-year-old Margaretha Stennert. The couple stayed together until her death in 2011.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Church of England
Justin Welby is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, he is the most senior bishop in the Church of England, which is the Anglican Christian state church of England. He is the highest ranking non-royal in the United Kingdom's order of precedence.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of All England and the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Welby is the 105th in a line going back more than 1400 years to Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent to England from Rome in 597. In England, the Archbishop of Canterbury holds a central role in national ceremonies such as coronations and royal weddings.
As holder of one of the five great sees (Canterbury, York, London, Durham and Winchester), the Archbishop of Canterbury is one of the Lords Spiritual of the House of Lords. In addition to his regular duties as member of the House of Lords, Welby sits on the panel of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
Due to his high public profile, the Archbishop of Canterbury is often asked by the news media to voice his opinion regarding various issues. As a spiritual leader of the Anglican Community, he is often asked to speak on behalf of Anglicans worldwide and Justin Welby has assumed an important role in Anglican ecumenical and interfaith work. Welby is also a highly visible supporter of Anglican consecration of women as bishops.
In 2016, paternity testing revealed that Justin Welby's biological father was Sir Winston Churchill's private secretary Sir Anthony Montague Browne (b. 1923), with whom Jane Portal had a short relationship just prior to being married to Gavin Welby on 4 April 1955.
Justin Welby has described his early childhood as "messy". Both Jane and Gavin were alcoholics and the marriage only lasted until 1959. After the divorce, young Justin was placed in the custody of Gavin. When Justin Welby was 21 years old, Gavin Welby died of alcohol-related causes.
Welby's mother stopped drinking in 1968, and in 1975 she married first-class cricketer and business executive Charles Williams, who was made a life peer in 1985. Justin Welby describes his stepfather as being supportive of him.
Justin Welby was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford; Eton College; and Trinity College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, his great-uncle Lord Butler of Saffron Walden was the master.
Justin Welby worked for 11 years in the oil industry, including five years in France where he was employed by the French oil company Elf Aquitaine. In 1984, he became treasurer of Enterprise Oil PLC where he focused mainly on West African and North Sea projects. In 1989, he left the oil industry, citing a calling from God to be ordained. He was at this point a lay leader at the charismatic evangelical Anglican church of Holy Trinity in Bromptom, London.
Justin Welby studied theology at Cranmer Hall and St John's College, Durham in 1989 - 1992. He obtained a BA degree and a DipMin, and became an ordained Deacon in 1992. The following year, he was ordained Priest. In 1992 - 1995, Welby was a curate at Chilvers Coton and St Mary the Virgin, Astley (Nuneaton). He then worked as a rector of St James' Church, Southam, before becoming a vicar of St Michael and All Angels, Ufton, Diocese of Coventry.
In 2002, Welby was appointed a canon residentiary of Coventry Cathedral and the co-director for international ministry at the International Centre for Reconciliation. A few years later, he became the sub-dean and Canon for Reconciliation Ministry, before assuming the role of Dean of Liverpool in December 2007.
Justin Welby was introduced to the House of Lords on 12 January 2012 and soon joined the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. In the House of Lords, he sits on the Lords Spiritual bench.
Justin Welby is a member of the Church of England, which is the Anglican Christian state church of England.
Hobbies
Sailing
Justin Welby is a self-professed Francophile who lists "most things French" among his hobbies.
Job Titles:
- Minister for Women and Youth
Job Titles:
- President and Chief Executive of H & M
Karl-Johan Persson took over as president and chief executive of H&M in 2009. Karl-Johan Persson is married to Leonie Gillberg and they couple has three children. The live in Stockholm, Sweden.
The young Karl-Johan attended Enskilda gymnasiet, a private high school in Stockholm, before moving to Australia to study history. After working for H&M in London, he attended European Businesses School London 1996 - 2000.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council
Born in Milan in 1935, Leonardo Del Vecchio might not be a household name. While most people would not have a clue who he is, everyone in the modern world uses the products created by the company he founded. This Italian businessman can be considered solely responsible for changing the way we see the world. Mr. Del Vecchio is the sole founder and current chairman of the Luxottica Group, which is, to this day the world's largest producer and seller for glasses and lenses.
Who is Leonardo Del Vecchio?
Born to an impoverished family in Milan, Italy, in 1935, Leonardo Del Vecchio whose father died before he was born, was forced to live in an orphanage at the age of 7 when his widowed mother was unable to take care of him. Making a decision not to be held back by his humble and unfortunate beginnings, he began apprenticing at a car and eyewear parts factory at the young age of 14. He used his earnings and knowledge gained to put himself through design school. Less than a decade later, he started his solo business career as a tool and die maker in Milan.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin ( Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин) was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russia, Soviet Union. His parents were Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin (1911-1999) and Maria Ivanovna Putina (née Shelomova; 1911-1998). Two other sons, Albert and Viktor, had been born to the couple in the mid-1930s, but Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad.
Maria Invanovna Putina was a factory worker. Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin had been a part of the Soviet military (first Navy, then regular army) and severely wounded in 1942.
Vladimir Putin went to School No. 193 at Baskov Lane near his home in Leningrad.
At age 12, he started learning sambo and judo after being inspired by the spy heroes he'd seen in Soviet movies.
When it was time for high school, Putin attended High School 281in Leningrad where he became fluent in German. After high school, Putin studied law at Leningrad State University from 1970 to 1975. His graduation thesis was "The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law".
As a student at Leningrad State University, Putin was mandated to join the Communist Party, and he would remain a member until December 1991.
Job Titles:
- Appointed President of the European Central Bank
- President of the European Central Bank ( ECB )
Mario Draghi is the appointed President of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the period 1 November 2011 - 31 October 2019. Since the ECB was established on 1 June 1998, it has had three presidents. Draghi's predecessors are Wim Duisenberg from the Netherlands who held the position 1998 - 2003, and Jean-Claude Trichet from France who headed the bank 2003 - 2011.
In 2014, Mario Draghi was listed as #8 on Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People. The following year, Fortune magazine named him as the world's second greatest leader, outranked only by Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union State
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Information Officer ( CIO ) of IG
- Director of the IG Group
Peter Hetherington is the director of the IG Group, a FTSE 250 company offering spread-betting on financial markets. IG Group, which has clients in over 130 different countries world wide, also sells binary options and CFDs on financial markets. By the end of May 2015, IG Group's total market capitalization was at 2.9 billion GBP.
Peter Hetherington was an officer in the Royal Navy (1988 - 1994) before joining the IG Group as a trainee in 1994. After a few years as a dealer and dealing-desk manager at IG, he was promoted first to Dealing Director (1998-2002) and then appointed Chief Information Officer (2002-2008).
As the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of IG, Hetherington was responsible for reforming the IT department and deliver an automated trading system. This came to be a turning point for the company, going from 10% online transactions to 99% online transactions.
After the success with the IT upgrades, Hetherington was promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Executive Director, a position he held until July 2015. Two of his accomplishments during this period were the unification of the various IG brands and the introduction of execution-only stockbroking.
When IG Group CEO Tim Howkins decided to step down, Hetherington replaced him as interim CEO for several months before being appointed CEO on a permanent basis in November 2015.
Peter Hetherington is married and has four children, of which the two youngest are twins. When the twins were born, he took a sabbatical and changed his contract to four days a week.
Job Titles:
- President
- Member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- President of Ukraine
Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко) has been the President of Ukraine since 7 June 2014, efter being elected on 25 May that year with more than 54% of the votes in the first round.
Previously, Poroshenko has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2010, and as Minister of Trade and Economic Development in 2012. From 2007 to 2012, he was also head of Ukraine's National Bank's council.
Poroshenko is nicknamed The Chocolate King, since he built a business empire in the 1990s after a fairly modest start selling cocoa beans. He has long been considered one of the most influential Ukrainan oligarchs. As of May 2015, Bloomberg News estimated his net worth to $720 millions.
In Ukraine, Poroshenko is widely described as a pragmatic politician who wish for Ukraine to become a part of the European Union while still somehow mending its relationship with Russia.
Poroshenko is fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian and English.
A son named Olexiy (b. 1985), who is a representative in the regional parliament of Vinnytsia Oblast. Through Olexiy, Maryna and Petro has a grandchild, born on the day of Petro Poroshenko's presidential inauguration of 7 June 2014.
Poroshenko is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He often wears a visible crucifix during high-level meetings, and has financed the restoration of monasteries.
Job Titles:
- Member of the European Parliament for France
Job Titles:
- Minister for the Environment
Job Titles:
- Director of the Federal Security Service
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Main Shareholder in H & M
- Founder of Familjen Erling - Perssons
- Photographer Pamela Collett While Living in London in the 1970s
Stefan Persson is a Swedish business magnate, and both chairman and main shareholder of the fashion company H&M - a company founded by his father Erling Persson back in 1947.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Persson had a net worth of US $31.9 billion in 2014, placing him on #17 on Bloomberg's rich list.
Stefan Persson took over H&M from his father in the early 1980s and was its manager 1982 - 1997. From 1998 and onward, Persson has been chairman of the board. He owns below 40% of the company stock in H&M, but has over 70% of the votes.
Stefan Persson owns substantial stakes in several other companies in addition to H&M, such as Poolia, Ericsson, Nordea, and Swedish technology company Hexagon AB. Through Persson's privately held real estate company Ramsbury, he owns properties throughout Europe. In 2009, he purchased the 21-cottage village of Linkenholt in Hampshire, England.
Stefan Persson is the founder of Familjen Erling-Perssons stiftelse, a research foundation named in honor of this father. Persson has made two major donations to this foundation; one consisting of 211 million SEK in 1999 and then a 611 million SEK one in 2004.
Born on 4 October 1947, Stefan Persson is the son of Margit and Erling Persson.
Pamela and Stefan Persson's first child Karl-Johan Erling Göran Persson was born in London on 25 March 1975. Their first daughter, Charlotte, arrived two years later in 1977. When the eldest son Karl-Johan was around seven years old, the family relocated to Stockholm where they settled in the Djursholm neighborhood. In 1985, the couple welcomed a third child, Tom.
Stefan Persson married photographer Pamela Collett while living in London in the 1970s.
Stefan Persson is an avid fan of Swedish football club Djurgården and has co-created a foundation for the club.
Job Titles:
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Job Titles:
- Publisher and Writer in the Esperanto Language and Young György Learned to Speak, Read and Write Esperanto from a Young Age
Tivadar Schwartz was a publisher and writer in the Esperanto language and young György learned to speak, read and write Esperanto from a young age.
Tom Persson works in the film industry. He attended Met Film School in London, before returning to Sweden and starting a company with film maker Jens Assur.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Calvinist Hungarian Reformed Church
- Prime Minister of Hungary
Viktor Mihály Orbán has been the Prime Minister of Hungary twice; first from 1998 to 2002, and then again from 2010 and onwards. Since 2003, Viktor Orbán is the leader of the Fidesz party, which is a national conservative party. Orbán also held this position from 1993 to 2000.
In Hungarian, his name is written Orbán Viktor, in accordance with the eastern name order. This article will use the western name order, i.e. given name first, family name after.
Orbán's time as Prime Minister has been characterized by increased social conservatism and Eurosceptic nationalism in Hungary, and constitutional reforms has been carried. Orbán is an advocate of what he calls "illiberal democracy".
Viktor Orbán is currently considered one of the most influential leaders in the European Union and is one of the most well-known proponents of Europe's mainstream right.
Viktor Mihály Orbán was born on 31 May 1963 in the Székesfehérvár region of central Hungary. His father Győző Orbán was an agronomist and entrepreneur, and his mother Erzsébet Sípos was a special educator and speech therapist. The family was middle-class. Eventually, Viktor got two younger brothers; Győző, Jr. (b. 1965) and Áron (b. 1977).
Viktor grew up in the two villages Alcsútdoboz and Felcsút, both located in Fejér County not far from the city of Székesfehérvár. He attended elementary school there and in a third village called Vértesacsa. In 1977, the family left the countryside and moved into the city (Székesfehérvár).
Viktor Orbán read English at Blanka Teleki High School in Székesfehérvár until 1981, followed by two years of military service. He then went on to read law at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, where he graduated in 1987 after successfully defending his master's thesis on the Polish Solidarity movement.
After becoming a jurist, Viktor Orbán spent two years working as a sociologist at the Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Budapest. He was then awarded a scholarship from the Soros Foundation to study political science at Pembroke College, Oxford, UK. At Oxford, Orbán had Hegelian political philosopher Zbigniew Pelczynski as his personal tutor.
Viktor Orbán has five children with his wife Anikó. One of their children is retired professional footballer Gáspár Orbán, who played for Ferenc Puskás Football Academy.
Viktor and Anikós first grandchild Aliz was born in June 2016, to their oldest daughter Ráhel and entrepreneur István Tiborcz.
Viktor Orbán is a member of the Calvinist Hungarian Reformed Church. His wife Anikó is a Roman Catholic.
Viktor Orbán is an avid football enthusiast. As a young man, he was a professional football player with Felcsút FC. He appears in the game Football Manager 2006.
Job Titles:
- Acting President
- President of Russia
Vladimir Putin was the second President of Russia and is currently the fourth President of Russia. He was Prime Minister of Russia 1999 - 2000, President of Russia 2000 - 2008, Prime Minister 2008 - 2012, and then again President from 2012 and on-wards. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was also the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party.
Vladimir Putin grew up in Leningrad and was a KGB foreign intelligence officer until he resign in 1991. As a KGB officer, he spent several years in Eastern Germany. In 1991, Putin became politically active in Leningrad and give years later he moved to Moscow to join President Boris Yeltsin's administration.
When Yeltsin resigned at the end of 1999, Putin became Acting President and he then won the subsequent 2000 presidential election. In 2004, he was re-elected for a second term with 72% of the vote.
Due to constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was unable to run for a third consecutive presidential term. He instead put his support behind presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev, who won the election and promptly made Putin Prime Minister of Russia. During Medvedev's time as president, the law was changed to extend presidential terms from four years to six years, starting with the president elected in the 2012 presidential election.
Putin has been practicing judo and sambo since he was a child, and holds a black belt in karate.