Residence Zurich, Switzerland Nationality American & French | Occupation Business executive Name Eric Olsen | |
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Alma mater University of Colorado
HEC Paris | ||
Eric Olsen is an American-French business executive. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim, a construction public corporation, until 2017.
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Early life
Eric Olsen was born in Easton, Pennsylvania and moved to Chicago, Illinois at a young age.
Olsen graduated from the University of Colorado. He received a master in business administration from HEC Paris.
Career
Olsen started his career at Deloitte. He later worked for Paribas and Trinity Associates.
Olsen joined Lafarge North America in 1999. He became its Chief Financial Officer in 2004. Three years later, in 2007, he was promoted as Head of Human Resources for Lafarge. Olsen helped integrate employees of the Orascom Group, acquired by Lafarge in 2007, and reorganised the subsidiary in 2012. By 2013, he became executive vice president of operations.
Olsen has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim since July 10, 2015. Olsen conducted the merger of Lafarge with Holcim. He is responsible for "140,000 employees and revenues of about €30bn."
Olsen announced his resignation on April 24 2017. He said in a statement that “it will contribute to addressing strong tensions that have recently arisen around the Syria case" and that he was "absolutely not involved in, nor even aware of, any wrongdoing”. An internal probe by LafargeHolcim found funds were given to third parties who then made arrangements with a number of groups, including “sanctioned parties”, in order to keep the Group's Syrian plant running.
He will leave LafargeHolcim on 15 July 2017. Once he leaves, Beat W. Hess will become the interim CEO.
Philanthropy
Olsen formerly served as the President of the American School of Paris.
Personal life
He has two children. He resides in Zurich, Switzerland.
Olsen became a bi-national, after gaining French citizenship in 2014. He enjoys skiing.