Thomas Schmidheiny (born 17 December 1945) is a Swiss billionaire businessman, and the former chairman of cement manufacturer

Holcim Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and Construction aggregate, aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge (company), Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new c ...

Early life

Thomas Schmidheiny was born in 1945, the son of Max Schmidheiny (1908-1991). The family's construction materials empire (bricks, cement, etc.) was divided in 1984, with Thomas inheriting Holcim, the concrete and cement company, and his brother Stephan, also a billionaire, was given the construction company

Eternit Eternit is a registered trademark for a brand of fibre cement currently owned by the Belgian company Etex. Fibre is often applied in building and construction materials, mainly in roofing and facade products. Material description The term ...

Career

Until 2003, Schmidheiny was the chairman of

, one of the world's leading cement manufacturers, founded by his grand-uncle in 1912. Schmidheiny resigned his chairmanship as part of a deal to settle an investigation of insider trading in Spain. He has remained on the Board since that time. Since the merger between

and Lafarge Thomas Schmidheiny retains 11.4% of the company Lafarge-Holcim and is the biggest shareholder of the firm. Schmidheiny is a member of the Executive Advisory Board of the World.Minds Foundation.

Education

Schmidheiny holds a doctorate from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

and a Diplomingenieur degree from the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

, and an MBA from IMD Business School, Switzerland.

Honors

The

Indian School of Business The Indian School of Business (ISB) is a private business school with campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali, India. It offers various post-graduate management programs. History The Indian School of Business (ISB) was started in 1996 by a bunch of b ...

has a Thomas Schmidheiny chair of family business. As of 2023, the post was held by Sougata Ray.

Personal life

Schmidheiny is married with four children; he owns vineyards and wineries in Argentina, Switzerland and the US (''Cuvaison'' in the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

), including his residences in Rapperswil-Jona and Klosters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidheiny, Thomas Swiss businesspeople Swiss billionaires Living people Tufts University alumni 1945 births

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

ETH Zurich alumni