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TRENDS
Steven Tanda,
President of Dupont's
Protein Technologies International (PTI)
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Young Presidents
Create Energy and Results for Big Name Companies
By Laurie Burstein
They’re smart, powerful, and in charge of the bottom line. They’re
the guys at the helm of the highly successful companies of Ameren
Energy, Edward Jones Trust Co., and Protein Technologies International,
and they’re all under 40.
Take Stephan Tanda. At 36, he is president of Dupont’s Protein Technologies
International (PTI) with 1,500 employees in 35 countries and more
than $500 million in revenues. With headquarters in St. Louis, PTI
is a leading researcher, manufacturer, and marketer of soy protein
isolates and soy fiber ingredients. PTI’s parent company, Dupont,
is a $30 billion dollar company.
Tanda has 10 direct reports and all are older than he, but Tanda
firmly states that age is not a factor. “After five minutes, age
doesn’t matter. What matters is helping people lead healthier lives
with our products and research, increasing value for our shareholders
and building careers,” he says.
Creating energy and being clear about objectives, while giving his
staff the freedom to accomplish goals, are some of the advantages
Tanda sees to being a young leader. Tanda, a native of Austria,
was a Fulbright Scholar and holds a master’s degree from the University
of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. He has held various
positions with Dupont for more than 10 years and has overseen various
operations for the company in the United States and Europe.
Jim Whitesides, 37 and president of AmerenEnergy, is another young
president who agrees that age is not a big issue. As an affiliate
of the $9 billion dollar Ameren Corporation, AmerenEnergy is the
marketing and energy trading arm of the company. Whitesides oversees
the operation including a state-of-the-art trading floor where commodity
traders manage the trading of electricity in the Midwest regulated
environment.
Whitesides helped build AmerenEnergy from the start in 1998 during
the deregulation of the energy industry. Prior to joining the company,
he was with Cinergy Power Marketing and Trading in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Whitesides has a strong financial background with more than eight
years of experience in the energy markets. Before his involvement
with electricity markets, he was with Bank of America, Catex Energy
and Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York. He has a BS in Systems Engineering
from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, as well as an MBA from
the New York Institute of Technology and is a Chartered Financial
Analysts (CFA).
As president, his duties at AmerenEnergy include overall responsibility
for profitability, risk and reporting to the board of directors.
He says he hasn’t encountered any problems due to his age and sees
it as a plus.
“My experience as a young president has been very positive. I can
bring a fresh outlook and new energy,” Whitesides says. “Leadership
can also come from market knowledge and ability to improve the bottom
line and get results,” he adds. According to recent reports, AmerenEnergy
has been able to achieve highly favorable results and the parent
company, Ameren Corp., has had a very good year.
At 38, Terry Crow is president of Edward Jones Trust Company, and
says he can recall only one incident where his age was an issue.
Edward Jones Trust Co, is an affiliate of Edward Jones, the St.
Louis-based brokerage firm founded in 1871. The Trust Company was
formed in 1995 to offer trust services to the company’s clients
and Crow joined during this time to start the company.
Crow has a law degree from University of Missouri–Columbia and held
positions at United Missouri Bank where he gained banking and trust
experience. He also served as president and CEO of The Guaranty
Trust Company of Missouri before joining Edward Jones.
“I can remember just one time when my age was an issue as president
of Edward Jones Trust Company. We were in the process of hiring
new employees when the company was being formed and one candidate
learned of my age. She was very uncomfortable that she was much
older than me and declined the job,” Crow explains.
“But overall my age has been more of an advantage. I’m more open-minded
and don’t have a lot of baggage. You won’t hear from me ‘we can’t
do that because we’ve always done it this way,’” Crow says.
Crow’s boss agrees that age was not a factor in putting him in charge.
“Terry’s age was never a consideration when we hired him. In fact,
I’m not even sure how old he is,” says Edward Jones’ Chief Operating
Officer Doug Hill.
Hill adds, “Terry simply impressed me as someone with the skills
and experience we needed. Our firm had established some very ambitious
goals for the Trust Company, and I was confident Terry could reach
them. Our business results bear that out.”
All three of these presidents agree there are many factors that
contribute to their success as young leaders including humility,
having great mentors, and hiring first-class employees. Of course,
it helps that all three companies are getting very strong financial
results. And as an added bonus, all three have earned the respect
of those both younger and older.
Laurie Burstein is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer
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