Kenneth Chenault is the CEO of American Express.
Education
Kenneth Chenault attended Waldorf school in Garden City until grade 12. His education then continued at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. In 1973 he graduated in history and enrolled at Harvard Law School, where he received the degree of Juris Doctor in 1976.
Career
After finishing Harvard Law School Kenneth Chenault joined Rogers & Wells and stayed there for three years. Subsequently he moved back to Boston to start working at a management consultancy named Bain & Co.
In 1981 he joined American Express and became employed in the strategic planning department of the company. He was the one who made the merchandise-services division a profitable business again and in 1989 he was manager of the whole consumer card department.
The rise of his career continued and after having managed the Establishment Services Division he was promoted to vice- chairman of American Express in 1995.
In 1997, Kenneth Chenault turned president and chief operating officer, and eventually in 2001 he was nominated as the next CEO.
Personal facts
Kenneth Irvine Chenault was born in Mineola, New York in 1951. Today he lives in New Rochelle, New York with his wife Kathryn and his two children.
Next to being the CEO of American Express he serves on the boards of various other organizations, for example the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse at Columbia University and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
He received numerous awards for his public service leadership and is a member of Barack Obama’s “President Council on Jobs and Competitiveness” since February 2011.
