Thomas Schmidheiny

Thomas Schmidheiny (born December 17, 1945 in Balgach ; legal domicile there ) is a Swiss entrepreneur and art collector .

Life

Thomas Schmidheiny was born as the son of the entrepreneur Max Schmidheiny (1908–1991); the entrepreneur and philanthropist Stephan Schmidheiny is his brother. After graduating from the Trogen Cantonal School , Thomas Schmidheiny studied mechanical engineering at the ETH Zurich and graduated in 1969 with a diploma (Diplom Ing. ETH Business Administration and Control and Process Engineering).

In 1970 he became the technical director of the Mexican cement company Cementos Apasco (now Holcim Apasco). In 1972 he obtained an MBA from the private school IMD Lausanne . In 1976 he was appointed to the management board and in 1978 to the board of directors of the cement manufacturer Cementfabrik "Holderbank" . From 1978 to 2001 he was managing director and from 1984 to 2003 also chairman of the board of directors. He remains a member of the Board of Directors. As the largest single shareholder, Schmidheiny holds 20.39 percent of the registered shares of Holcim (as of December 31, 2007, directly and indirectly).

He is also a board member of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy . He is the main shareholder and sits on the board of directors of Grand Resort Bad Ragaz AG , one of the larger hotel companies in Switzerland, which he inherited from his father. Since July 2013 he has been one of the main shareholders of Lonrho Ltd. based in London. Lonrho wants to expand and develop business activities in African countries south of the Sahara .

He owns the Thomas Schmidheiny Art Collection , established under Swiss law , which aims to make works by the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler accessible to the interested public. He is also a member of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation for the benefit of the University of St. Gallen and its institutes, as well as a member of the foundation for the promotion of the Master's degree in Law and Economics at the University of St. Gallen. He is (together with the entrepreneur Klaus Gebert and the city of Rapperswil ) co-founder and Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Futur Foundation for the promotion of young entrepreneurs. Thomas Schmidheiny was the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the foundation established by the Swiss Association for Hospital, Home and Community Gastronomy in 1983 to promote training in community catering (today: community catering). He also runs a winery in Balgach and sells wines under various brands.

Like his brother, Thomas Schmidheiny found himself repeatedly exposed to public criticism, be it as a major shareholder in Holcim , which was criticized for its wage policy in South Africa , or when he left the supervisory board of Xstrata in summer 2001, its subsidiary Vantech in South Africa massively against health - and should have violated safety precautions. The resignation took place after he was targeted by the Spanish anti-corruption authorities for an illegal stock exchange transaction and, thanks to his willingness to cooperate, was punished with a reduced fine of 1.5 million euros.

After his brother was convicted in the first instance, an investigation was initiated against Thomas Schmidheiny in Italy in the Eternit trial in July 2012 .

In 1999, Tufts University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his commitment to sustainable development .

Schmidheiny is married and has one son and three daughters.

Engagement at Swissair and consequences

Schmidheiny was a member of the board of directors of the airline Swissair (later: SAirGroup) from 1980 to 2001 , and from 1994 as Vice President.

In March 2006, the public prosecutor of the Canton of Zurich brought charges against Schmidheiny and another 18 people in connection with the Swissair bankruptcy. He was accused of damage to creditors and multiple unfaithful business management. Like the other 18 defendants, he was acquitted. He received litigation compensation in the amount of 194,079 francs. The prosecution did not advance the verdict; thus the acquittal is final.

capital

In 2012, Thomas Schmidheiny's fortune was estimated by the Swiss business magazine Bilanz at 4.5 billion Swiss francs. According to the Forbes 2015 list, his net worth is approximately $ 5.5 billion. This puts him in 6th place in Switzerland and 271 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world.

See also

• Schmidheiny family

literature

• Constantin Seibt : The Swissair process. Real time, Basel 2007, ISBN 978-3-905800-04-3 .
• Thomas Schmidheiny in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
• François Höpflinger: The uncanny empire: economic integration in Switzerland . Eco, Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-85637-026-9 .
• Hans O. Staub : From Schmidheiny to Schmidheiny (=  Swiss pioneers in business and technology . Volume 61 ). Association for Economic History Studies, Meilen 1994, ISBN 3-909059-07-4 .
• Marcel Baumgartner, Ferdinand Hodler: Ferdinand Hodler: Collection Thomas Schmidheiny . Exhibition Ferdinand Hodler - Thomas Schmidheiny Collection, University of St. Gallen (HSG), May 8 to June 20, 1998. Ed .: University of St. Gallen (=  catalogs of Swiss museums and collections . Volume 15 ). Swiss Institute for Art Research , Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-908184-88-6 .

Web links

Commons : Art Collection Thomas Schmidheiny  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Hans O. Staub : From Schmidheiny to Schmidheiny. Association for Economic History Studies, Meilen 1994, ISBN 3-909059-07-4 , p. 200.
2. ↑ Entry Holcim Ltd  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Commercial Register of the Canton of St. Gallen, accessed on October 2, 2011.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Markus Städeli, Charlotte Jacquemart: Empire of clay, sand and stone . ( Memento from January 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: NZZ am Sonntag from July 29, 2012.
4. ↑ Holcim Board of Directors , with biography
5. ↑ Annual Report 2007 Holcim Ltd , p. 178.
6. ↑ Thomas Schmidheiny also cashed once. In: Tages-Anzeiger , March 31, 2011. Accessed August 27, 2012.
7. ↑ The Schmidheinys. (Part 2): Win without a conscience. In: Bilanz , April 30, 2003. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
8. ↑ Asbestos: Schmidheiny wants to buy himself out cheaply. ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: work, April 18, 2004. Retrieved August 27, 2012. 
9. ^ Investigation in Italy also against Thomas Schmidheiny. In: Handelszeitung , July 26, 2012. Accessed August 27, 2012.
10. ↑ Swissair: The process is picking up speed. NZZ Online , January 21, 2007, accessed on October 2, 2011.
11. ↑ Entry SAirGroup AG in debt restructuring liquidation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich, accessed on October 2, 2011.  
12. ^ Swissair trial: Defense lawyers plead for acquittal in: Swissinfo of February 22, 2007
13. ↑ All defendants acquitted ( memento of October 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tages-Anzeiger of June 7, 2007
14. ↑ Public prosecutor's office does not move forward with SAirGroup judgments. In: NZZ Online from September 7, 2007
15. ↑ The 300 richest 2012: Thomas Schmidheiny. ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Bilanz , accessed on May 9, 2013 
16. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/profile/thomas-schmidheiny/?list=billionaires