Tidjane Thiam was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 1962 into a politically prominent family, and became the first Ivorian to pass the entrance examination to France's École Polytechnique before graduating top of his class at the École des Mines de Paris.
Thiam worked for consultancy McKinsey & Company before returning to Ivory Coast in 1994 to lead the National Bureau for Technical Studies and later serve as the country's Minister of Planning and Development.
Following the 1999 Ivorian coup, Thiam returned to the private sector in Europe, working at Aviva before joining Prudential plc, the British insurance group, where he became chief executive in 2009, the first Black person to lead a FTSE 100 company.
Thiam went on to become chief executive of Swiss bank Credit Suisse from 2015 to 2020, before returning to politics in Ivory Coast, where he has served as president of the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire since 2024.
a watershed moment for British business
Tidjane Thiam's appointment as chief executive of Prudential in 2009 marked the first time a Black executive had led a FTSE 100 company, a milestone in British corporate history that remains rare more than a decade later.
- 1962Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
- 1986Joins McKinsey & Company.
- 1994Returns to Ivory Coast to lead the National Bureau for Technical Studies.
- 1998Appointed Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development.
- 2009Becomes CEO of Prudential plc, the first Black person to lead a FTSE 100 company.
- 2015Becomes CEO of Credit Suisse.
- 2024Becomes president of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire.
- ★ First Black person to lead a FTSE 100 company (Prudential, 2009)
- ★ Chief Executive of Credit Suisse, 2015–2020
- ★ Former Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development
- ★ First Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's École Polytechnique