Tidjane Thiam
Special Envoy for COVID-19, African Union; Executive Chairman, Freedom Acquisition I Corporation
Tidjane Thiam is the Special Envoy on COVID-19 for the African Union, Executive Chairman of the Freedom Acquisition I Corporation, and Chairman of Rwanda Finance Limited. Mr. Thiam was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Group AG from 2015 to 2020. Prior to this role, he was Group Chief Executive of Prudential plc from 2009 to 2015, having also served that company as a Director from 2008 to 2015 and as Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2009. Previously, Mr. Thiam served in a variety of leadership roles at Aviva from 2002 to 2008, holding successively the positions of Group Strategy and Development Director, Managing Director of Aviva International, Group Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, and serving as a Director in 2007.
Mr. Thiam joined Aviva in 2002 from McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, where he was a partner. From 1994 to 1999, he was successively CEO of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development, and Secretary of Development and Planning at Côte d’Ivoire. Mr. Thiam served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of British Insurers from 2012 to 2014.
He is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and a member of the 21st Century Fox board of Directors since November 2014. 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, with distinction.
In April 2020, Mr. Thiam was appointed by the African Union as Special Envoy to solicit international support to help the continent deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus.