Page 107 - 2018 Powerlist

Karen Blackett Tidjane Thiam Hall of Fame

Executive Chief Executive,
chairwoman, Credit Suisse
Mediacom

Staying Number One We do not condone
is harder than getting structures for tax
to Number One. avoidance, whenever
You have to be a there is a structure
bit like Madonna – with a third-party
you have to keep beneficiary we insist to
reinventing yourself know their identity

K aren became the first businesswoman to head the idjane left Prudential and London for Credit Suisse
Powerlist when she was Number One in 2014.
and Zurich in 2015, and he is now the bank’s Chief
As Chair of Mediacom UK, the country’s largest TExecutive.
media communications agency, Karen oversees a budget He quickly signalled a change of direction for the bank,
of more than £1billion, a staff of about 900 people and her keen to move it away from the increasingly poisoned chalice
clients include Audi, GSK and BskyB. that investment banking has become. “We want to rebalance
She has a formidable reputation as the leader of the towards private banking and wealth management... as
world-leading WPP agency, which has scooped the opposed to the investment bank,” he says.
prestigious Media Agency of the Year award on several Ivory Coast-born Tidjane’s appointment as Chief
occasions, and she is one of the leading voices in the Executive of Prudential in 2009 was historic as he became
campaign for boardroom diversity. the first black person to lead a FTSE 100 company.
This year she became one of four external advisers to Tidjane is a member of the Africa Progress Panel, a group
the Civil Service, appointed by its head, Sir Jeremy of ten distinguished individuals who advocate for equitable
Heywood. and sustainable development in the continent.

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