Georges Nicolas Hayek Jr. (born 23 October 1954) is a Swiss businessman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of the Swiss-based

Swatch Group The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 through the merger of ASUAG and SSIH, moving to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the tradition ...

Early life and education

Hayek is the son of Lebanese-born Nicolas George Hayek, the late co-founder of the

. He has a sister, Nayla. He attended

Institut Montana Zugerberg Institut Montana Zugerberg is a Swiss international day and boarding school located on Mt. Zugerberg, overlooking the city of Zug and its lake. It opened on May 3, 1926. Today it is a co-educational school that takes around 380 students. Over 55 na ...

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

. After graduating from high school,

Matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

, Hayek studied

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

at the Universität St. Gallen for two years (without graduation) and was an intern in a foundry for half a year. Afterwards, he spent five years in Paris. There, he studied at the Film Academy and founded a production company. The highlight of his career as a director is said to be the film ''Family Express'' (1992) with

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his a ...

Career

In 1994 Hayek returned to Switzerland and joined the

managed by his father, where he first worked as head of marketing at Swatch AG, then as president of the executive board, and finally as delegate of the board of directors. He has been CEO since 1 January 2003, and a member of the board of directors of the Swatch Group since 2010. His sister Nayla Hayek has been chairman of the board of directors of the Swatch Group since the death of her father in June 2010.''Nick Hayek verteidigt Wahl seiner Schwester''
Artikel im

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

vom 30. Juni 2010 The Hayek family controls approximately 39% of The Swatch Group.

Personal life

Hayek is married and lives in

, Switzerland.Peter Burkhardt, Yves Demuth: Interview in: Der Sonntag vom 26. Februar 2012 (Archiv-Version) He has two children.

References

Living people 1954 births Lebanese businesspeople Lebanese chief executives Swiss chief executives University of St. Gallen alumni Swiss businesspeople Swiss people of Lebanese descent Lebanese expatriates in Switzerland Institut Montana Zugerberg alumni {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub