Since November 2002, Tidjane Thiam has been Group Strategy and Development Director, Aviva plc. Aviva is the 7th largest insurance company in the world and is the largest British insurance company. It trades in the UK under the name Norwich Union. With a turnover of more than USD 50 billion it is the 53rd company in the Global Fortune 500 ranking.
Tidjane reports directly to the Group Chief Executive and is one of 7 members of the Group Executive Committee. He sits on the Board of Norwich Union Life and chairs its Audit Committee.
Tidjane Thiam began his professional career in 1986 in Paris as an international consultant with McKinsey&Company. From 1986 to 1994 he worked successively in Paris, New York and several European Union countries. In 1989 he took a one-year sabbatical from McKinsey with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. to participate in the Young Professionals Program.
In 1994 Tidjane Thiam was called back to his country to become the first Ivorian Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development (the BNETD) , reporting directly to the President and the Prime Minister.
In 1998 Tidjane Thiam was selected to be one of the annual 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In August 1998 Tidjane Thiam was appointed Chairman of the BNETD and Minister of Planning and Development of Côte d'Ivoire, a position he held until December 1999. As such he was responsible for strategic planning, for coordination of public investment in infrastructure and for poverty alleviation.
In recognition of his work Tidjane Thiam was named a member of the Davos World Economic Forum's annual 1999 Dream Cabinet.
In October 1999 James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, appointed Tidjane Thiam one of 20 members of the External Advisory Council of the World Bank Institute in Washington, D.C.
After the December 1999 'Coup d'Etat', Tidjane decided to leave Cote d'Ivoire and in May 2000, he was elected a Partner by McKinsey&Company, which he re-joined in Paris. Until he was recruited by Aviva in 2002, Tidjane Thiam was one of the leaders of McKinsey's financial institutions practice in France and in Europe.
Tidjane has been since the co-chair with Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico, of an international task force on Global Public Goods. The task force is financed by France, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom. It will give its conclusions in 2005.
Born on July 29, 1962 Tidjane Thiam holds engineering degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (top of his class), and an MBA from INSEAD (dean's list).