American business leader is elected President of the International Chamber of Commerce
Paris, 8 December 2000 -Richard D. McCormick, an American and international business leader, has been elected President of the International Chamber of Commerce.The ICC World Council has elected Mr McCormick to serve a two-year term, beginning 1 January 2001. Mr McCormick is currently ICC Vice-President, a position he has held for two years.
McCormick, 60, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Denver-based U
S WEST (now part of Qwest Communications), said he will press for continued liberalization of trade and investment and further developing and expanding of electronic commerce worldwide.
"We've seen what the explosion of information and Internet-based services has done across the globe-everything from helping knock down the Berlin Wall to opening opportunities for all manner of businesses, large and small. Add to that the benefit to consumers of having these instant services at their fingertips, and you have a powerful force for positive change, and, I think, better tools for achieving peace in the world," Mr McCormick said.
McCormick will succeed Adnan Kassar, a Lebanese business leader and international banker, as ICC President. A French business leader, Jean-René Fourtou, Vice-Chairman of the Management Board and Group President of Aventis, was elected to succeed Mr McCormick as ICC Vice-President. Aventis, one of the world's largest life science companies, was created a year ago with the merger of Rh´ne-Poulenc SA of France and Hoechst AG of Germany. Mr McCormick, Mr Kassar and Mr Fourtou will comprise ICC's three-member Presidency.
"Adnan Kassar successfully expanded the scope of business influence in world affairs-by emphasizing the role of business as part of the solution, not the problem, to making life better for people around the globe. I am humbled to succeed a man of such vision and leadership," Mr McCormick said.
Mr McCormick retired as chief executive officer of U S WEST, a major U.S. telecommunications company, in June 1998, when the company split into two, separately traded firms. He continued to serve on the board of U S WEST as non-executive chairman until May 1999, when he retired and was named chairman emeritus.
He began his telecommunications career in 1961 as an engineer for AT&T. He moved through a succession of operations and executive jobs before being named president of Northwestern Bell in 1982. He was named executive vice president of U S WEST in 1985 and its president and chief operating officer in 1986. He became chief executive officer in 1990 and chairman in 1992. Under McCormick's leadership, U S WEST was one of the most aggressive Bell companies in moving into international markets, particularly in wireless communications and cable television.
Mr McCormick serves on the boards of United Airlines, Wells Fargo and Company, United Technologies Corp., Concept Five Technologies and HealthTrio, Inc. He also serves on the board of Creighton University in Omaha, and is a trustee of the Denver Art Museum.
Mr Fourtou was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rh´ne-Poulenc SA Group in 1986, a post he held until Rh´ne-Poulenc's merger with Hoechst. He then assumed his current title of Vice-Chairman and Group President of the new merged company, Aventis, which is based in Strasbourg..
Mr Fourtou is a Board Member of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), Pernod Ricard, Schneider and Axa.
Mr Kassar is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fransabank Group, based in Beirut. He is President of the Federation of Lebanese Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and Permanent Vice-Chairman and former President of the General Union of Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab countries. He co-founded ICC Lebanon in 1973 and remains its Chairman.
ICC promotes an open international trade and investmen
t system and the market economy. Founded in 1919, it has more than 7,000 member companies and business associations in more than 130 countries and territories.