Ben Verwaayen | |
---|---|
![]() Verwaayen in 2009 | |
Born | |
Nationality | Dutch |
Education | Driebergen school |
Alma mater | Utrecht University |
Occupation | CEO |
Employer(s) | ITT Corporation (1975-1988) PTT Telecom (1988-1997) Lucent Technologies (1997-2003) BT Group (2003-2008) Alcatel-Lucent (2008-2013) |
Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
Spouse | Helena |
Children | 2 |
Awards |
|
Bernardus Johannes Maria "Ben" Verwaayen KBE (born 11 February 1952) is a Dutch businessman and a general partner of Keen Venture Partners. [1] He was Chief Executive Officer of telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent from 2008 to 2013.
Verwaayen is the fifth of six children born to a family who owned a chemicals business in Driebergen. [2] At school, he organised the first student parliament, and after graduating from Utrecht University with a degree in law and international relations in 1975, wanted to be a journalist or politician. [2]
On graduation, he decided to immediately undertake his National Service with the Royal Netherlands Army, where he founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.
On leaving the army, to enable him to continue his work with the trade union, he joined a subsidiary of ITT Corporation because it gave him time to sit on a Dutch state committee to reform the army. [2] His first promotion came after he went to the European Union Parliament in Brussels to protest about the company's alleged role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende's government in Chile; ITT responded by making him its Netherlands public relations chief. [3]
In 1988, Verwaayen became a director of PTT Telecom, the state-owned Dutch telecoms group that was a forerunner of today's KPN; and then was appointed a board member of Lucent Technologies in 1997, moving to the United States. A committed Anglophile, [4] he became CEO of BT in 2003. [5] During his time there, he was also a board member for Dutch television production company Endemol, and chaired the Confederation of British Industry committee on climate change. [4] There was controversy over his management style at BT, with accusations that BT Global Services had to write down substantial losses and that Verwaayen was to blame. [6] [7]
After standing down from BT on 1 June 2008 when Ian Livingston took over, [8] there was speculation that he would pursue a career in Dutch politics. [3] On 2 September 2008 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Verwaayen as the company's chief executive officer, succeeding Patricia Russo. In March 2009, he forwent a €520,000 cash bonus after a pay freeze had been imposed on staff and a loss-making 2008. [9] He was less restrained in later years; his salary increased by 30% between 2010 and 2012, even as losses continued at the company. [10] [11]
On 22 February 2013 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Michel Combes as the company's CEO, succeeding Verwaayen, effective 1 April. [12] He joined Akamai Technologies as a director in November 2013. [13]
In 2016, Verwaayen founded Keen Venture Partners, a venture capital firm providing early growth capital for technology companies. [14] Since April 2020, he has been Chairman of Renewi plc. [15]
During his military service, Verwaayen founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.
Verwaayen has been a longtime member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. He sat in its executive for ten years, and also contributed to its election programme for the 2006 Dutch elections. At various times, he was linked with a Cabinet position. The current Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has named him as one of his closest advisors. [16]
Verwaayen has received various honorary awards and has been made Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau (Netherlands), Honorary Knight of the Order of the British Empire KBE (United Kingdom), and a knight in the Legion of Honour (France).
Married to Helena, the couple have two children. [4] They currently reside in Paris, but had a family home in Haslemere, Surrey where Verwaayen hosted a party in summer 2008, attended by 1,300 guests including former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, UK government ministers Stephen Twigg and John Denham. [2] Verwaayen, a tennis player himself, put on a celebrity tennis match between John Lloyd and Ilie Năstase, [2] and is also a fan of Arsenal F.C. [4]
BT Group plc is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband and mobile services in the UK, and also provides subscription television and IT services.
Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business unit of AT&T Corporation, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs.
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, in the greater Helsinki metropolitan area, but the company's actual roots are in the Tampere region of Pirkanmaa. In 2020, Nokia employed approximately 92,000 people across over 100 countries, did business in more than 130 countries, and reported annual revenues of around €23 billion. Nokia is a public limited company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. It was the world's 415th-largest company measured by 2016 revenues, according to the Fortune Global 500, having peaked at 85th place in 2009. It is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
Motive, Inc. was a software manufacturer founded in May 1997 and headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Patricia F. Russo is an American businessperson. Russo is most widely known for having served as chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies, and its successor, Alcatel-Lucent, a large communications equipment manufacturer. As of 2020, she serves on the board of directors of General Motors, Merck & Co., and Arconic, Inc. She serves as chairwoman of the nonprofit organization, Partnership at Drugfree.org. Prior to the split of Hewlett-Packard into two companies in 2015, Russo served as lead independent director. She now serves as chairwoman of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
William Frank Blount, AM is an American businessman, and currently the chairman and CEO of venture capital firm JI Ventures, Inc. Blount previously served as chairman and CEO of Cypress Communications Inc., and director and CEO of Telstra Corporation Limited in Australia.
Utrechtse Heuvelrug is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It was formed on 1 January 2006 by merging the former municipalities of Amerongen, Doorn, Driebergen-Rijsenburg, Leersum, and Maarn.
Alcatel–Lucent S.A. was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It was formed in 2006 by the merger of France-based Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent, the latter being a successor of AT&T's Western Electric and a holding company of Bell Labs.
DVB-SH is a physical layer standard for delivering IP based media content and data to handheld terminals such as mobile phones or PDAs, based on a hybrid satellite/terrestrial downlink and for example a GPRS uplink. The DVB Project published the DVB-SH standard in February 2007.
Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes,, is a Scottish businessman and politician. Starting his career as CEO of J Walter Thompson UK & Ireland and COO of NTL UK & Ireland, in 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom in the United Kingdom. He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007 until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor, and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff, he was the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting from 2008 to 2009. Between 2010 and 2013 he held various management positions at Alcatel-Lucent, and in 2013 he became the group CEO of Informa, an information and events company.
The Corps des télécommunications was a French Technical "grand corps de l'Etat". It is formed of the State Engineers of the Telecommunications.
Ian Paul Livingston, Baron Livingston of Parkhead, is a Scottish businessman who was formerly chief executive of BT Group. A Conservative member of the House of Lords, he previously served as the UK government's Minister of State for Trade and Investment.
Eric Hippeau is a partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures in New York City.
Philippe Camus is a French businessman whose executive positions include CEO at transnational aerospace company EADS, and chairman and interim CEO at French/American telecommunications supplier Alcatel-Lucent.
Genesys Cloud Services, Inc. (Genesys), formerly Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., is an American software company that sells customer experience (CX) and call center technology to mid-sized and large businesses. It sells both cloud-based and hybrid cloud software. The company was founded in 1990 and was acquired by investment firms Permira Funds and Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) in February 2012.
François Barrault is a French business executive in the digital industry. He is chairman of the IDATE Digiworld Institute, and chairs the annual Digiworld Summit which takes place in November in Montpellier.
Paul Sagan is an American businessman and managing partner at General Catalyst Partners. A three-time Emmy award winner for broadcast journalism in New York, Sagan began his career at WCBS-TV as a news writer and news director. Joining Time Warner to design and launch NY1, in 1995 he was named president and editor of new media at Time Inc. Sagan joined Akamai Technologies in 1998, becoming CEO in 2005. In 2014, he became a venture capitalist at General Catalyst Partners. He became chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2015.
Michel Combes is a French businessman and current Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group International ("SBGI"). Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer at Sprint, and has held CEO roles at Vodafone Europe, Alcatel-Lucent and Altice.
Gavin Patterson is a businessman who was President & Chief Revenue Officer of Salesforce and Chief Executive of BT Group from 2013–19.
Christel Heydemann is a French businesswoman and the chief executive officer (CEO) of the French telecommunications company Orange S.A. since 4 April 2022.