Ziarul Financiar has compiled a list of the heads of the 100 largest companies in Romania by the companies’ 2011 turnover, the latest data available from the Trade Registry.
One in ten executives who run the 100 largest companies in Romania has done this job for over ten years. Seven of them have been at the helm for more than 17 years and generally are shareholders of the companies.
The longest-running CEO in Romania has held this position for 24 years. He is Gheorghe Ghioca, general manager of agricultural company Agro-Chirnogi, which had a turnover of EUR265 million in 2011.
His longevity as general manager is atypical in the Romanian business world. He ran the Chirnogi farm even before the Romanian revolution of 1989, when the farm used to be state-held. Ten years ago the farm went from state ownership into the hands of a group of Arab shareholders, who chose to keep Ghioca as manager.
In the agriculture business, where Romania entrepreneurs are still major players on many segments, the shareholders are often also the ones who run the companies as CEOs. When it comes to the top 100 companies, it is the case of Ioan Niculae, owner and president of InterAgro.
“During the crisis many top executives lost their job, I don’t think there is a long-running executive who doesn’t have shares in the company and it is normal for those who are shareholders not to leave the helm of the company. In general expats’ mandates last 2-3 years and have been cut short lately,” said Mihaela Damian, country manager of executive search company SpenglerFox, part of Irish group Grafton.
Over 40% of the CEOs of the largest 100 companies in Romania are expats, a sign that major multinationals do not trust Romanian managers enough yet or that foreign executives have not been able to train their successors well enough.
Seventeen of the companies in the top 100 are state-run companies, most of them subordinated to the Economy and Transport ministries.
Only six Romanian entrepreneurs managed in 2011 to make it into the ranking of the 100 largest companies in Romania.
Despite the fact that only 11% of the CEOs of the 100 largest companies in Romania are women, the no. 1 company – Petrom – is run by a woman, Mariana Gheorghe, who has held this position for over six years.
47 is the average age of the CEOs of the largest companies in Romania.
The oldest CEO is 64 – Dumitru Dina, interim CEO of Nuclearelectrica – and the youngest is 31, a woman – Kinga Agnes Daradics of Mol.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)