Full Name
Tidjane Thiam
Job Title
Executive Chairman
Company Name
Freedom Acquisition Corp.
Bio
Mr. Thiam has over 30 years of experience in global financial services.
During his tenure as CEO of Credit Suisse Group AG from 2015 to 2020, he successfully turned around the performance of Credit Suisse and delivered record-breaking profits in 2019, Credit Suisse’s most profitable year in over a decade. He significantly restructured the bank’s trading and investment banking business, while simultaneously growing its wealth management activities. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Thiam served as Group CEO of Prudential plc from 2009 to 2015, after being Group CFO from 2008 to 2009. While at Prudential, Mr. Thiam spearheaded the strategy of transforming Prudential’s Asia business into a best-in-class franchise across the region. Within six years, new business premiums from the region nearly doubled to £2.2bn, operating profit more than doubled and dividends to the group increased by 10x.
Previously, Mr. Thiam served in a variety of leadership roles at Aviva from 2002 to 2007, including Group Strategy and Development Director, Managing Director of Aviva International, Group Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, and in 2007, appointed board member of Aviva plc. Mr. Thiam joined Aviva in 2002 from McKinsey & Company. From 1994 to 1999, he was successively CEO of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development, and Secretary of Development and Planning, Côte d’Ivoire. Mr. Thiam also served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of British Insurers from 2012 to 2014.
Mr. Thiam is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, a member of Group of 30, a member of the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Audit Committee of Kering S.A., a member of the International Olympic Committee and a member of its Finance Commission. Mr. Thiam is a graduate from the École Polytechnique in Paris and the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
During his tenure as CEO of Credit Suisse Group AG from 2015 to 2020, he successfully turned around the performance of Credit Suisse and delivered record-breaking profits in 2019, Credit Suisse’s most profitable year in over a decade. He significantly restructured the bank’s trading and investment banking business, while simultaneously growing its wealth management activities. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Thiam served as Group CEO of Prudential plc from 2009 to 2015, after being Group CFO from 2008 to 2009. While at Prudential, Mr. Thiam spearheaded the strategy of transforming Prudential’s Asia business into a best-in-class franchise across the region. Within six years, new business premiums from the region nearly doubled to £2.2bn, operating profit more than doubled and dividends to the group increased by 10x.
Previously, Mr. Thiam served in a variety of leadership roles at Aviva from 2002 to 2007, including Group Strategy and Development Director, Managing Director of Aviva International, Group Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, and in 2007, appointed board member of Aviva plc. Mr. Thiam joined Aviva in 2002 from McKinsey & Company. From 1994 to 1999, he was successively CEO of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development, and Secretary of Development and Planning, Côte d’Ivoire. Mr. Thiam also served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of British Insurers from 2012 to 2014.
Mr. Thiam is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, a member of Group of 30, a member of the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Audit Committee of Kering S.A., a member of the International Olympic Committee and a member of its Finance Commission. Mr. Thiam is a graduate from the École Polytechnique in Paris and the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
