About 90% of Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group works from their home office and we are located across the United States. My boss for example lives in MA and I live in MD. We talk and or email daily but I have only seen him a handful of times in the last year.
But, once a year we all get together for our annual meeting - this year our annual meeting is in Las Vegas in November. I think I speak for all of us in Talent Acquisition that this is one of the most anticipated events of the year for our group. It allows us to reconnect on a personal level with the people that we work with every day. Last year was my first Annual Meeting and it happened to be my first day with Sodexo. To say I was a little nervous is an under statement. I am particularly excited for this year's event because I will be able to enjoy myself without the nerves.
This year we are thrilled to welcome Sodexo's President and CEO, George Chavel to our meeting. I've read a lot about him and was on a team call with him just a couple of weeks ago but have never met him in person and I have to admit I am somewhat star struck. Sodexo is a very large company with more than 120,000 employees and more than 6,000 client sites in the US - talk about responsibility and career motivation! Mr. Chavel was recently profiled in The Gazette’s 2008 edition of “25 CEOs You Need to Know.” This news supplement features 25 top CEOs from successful Maryland-based companies. He was was selected from more than 130 nominations to appear in the publication. The story is personal, honest, uninhibited, and well... pretty darn cool.
Age: 48
Education: B.A. in economics and management from Albion College, Albion, Michigan
First Job Held: "As a teenager, I was a stock boy on the loading dock of my father's candy and tobacco wholesale distributorship. After college, I joined Arthur Andersen."
Hobbies: Spending time with family (my wife and two teenage sons) doing things together. Playing the piano.
What keeps you awake at night: Thinking about how we can be the employer of choice in the battle for talented people.
Person Most Want to Have Dinner With: George Gershwin.
Life Motto: "Be yourself; treat everyone around you with respect and dignity; be open to new possibilities; listen to good advice; have fun; be responsible; know when to rest and understand that you can and do make a difference with every interaction you have."
And now the article:
George Chavel, president and CEO of Sodexo, Inc., remembers his father getting up every morning at 5:00 to go to work. He did this for years, never taking a sick day. "But yet he was home for us," said Chavel. "But I watched his work ethic and saw commitment to a job in order to take care of us. You can translate that to a career."
He also counts himself fortunate to take on opportunities to do what he enjoys doing, which in turn have led to other opportunities. For example, at Sodexo, he started in the health care division in 1991. He credits the great team of people who helped him learn the business.
In 1998, Chavel took on a more senior executive role in health care and in 2005, was named chief operating officer and market president for the health care market, which was Sodexo's largest at the time, and included Senior Services, Acute Care and Laundry Services divisions. Two years later, he assumed responsibility for all of the company's North America Operations as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Sodexo, Inc. is a leading integrated food and facilities management services company in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $7.3 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexo, Inc. serves more than 10 million customers daily. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, is a member of Sodexo Group, and funds the Sodexo Foundation (www.helpstophunger.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $9.2 million in grants to fight hunger in America.
Earlier this year, Sodexo was named one of the top 5 five companies on the 2008 Global Outsourcing 100 List published by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals™ (IAOP). "There's a lot to be proud of…our business is strong and growing in all segments," said Chavel. "In the past 12 months, I'm most proud of the very public and company-wide priority Sodexo has placed on programs and strategy around corporate citizenship."
Sodexo's corporate citizenship priorities include: fighting hunger and malnutrition; improving the quality of life of those served; and protecting the environment.
His favorite part of the business is the people that he's worked with. "I've had the opportunity to work with so many great people who have that deep-rooted spirit of service and who have gone beyond what they needed to do, not only for our clients and customers, but also for our own people," said Chavel.
He has found the toughest issues and decisions involve people and, because they do, it makes it personal. He lives by a "mission/ business first, people always" motto, and his challenge of leadership is to wisely balance the two.
Keeping employees happy is attainable, according to Chavel, by providing clear direction, setting expectations, and communicating intent. "I give them the tools they need to succeed, and get out of their way," observed Chavel. He tries to stay focused on what the objectives are and on being a good communicator. "I'm not a micro-manager. I trust and respect the accountability that I convey to people and that they know they have the responsibility to deliver."
You can also read the article here .
George Chavel, president and CEO of Sodexo, Inc., remembers his father getting up every morning at 5:00 to go to work. He did this for years, never taking a sick day. "But yet he was home for us," said Chavel. "But I watched his work ethic and saw commitment to a job in order to take care of us. You can translate that to a career."
He also counts himself fortunate to take on opportunities to do what he enjoys doing, which in turn have led to other opportunities. For example, at Sodexo, he started in the health care division in 1991. He credits the great team of people who helped him learn the business.
In 1998, Chavel took on a more senior executive role in health care and in 2005, was named chief operating officer and market president for the health care market, which was Sodexo's largest at the time, and included Senior Services, Acute Care and Laundry Services divisions. Two years later, he assumed responsibility for all of the company's North America Operations as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Sodexo, Inc. is a leading integrated food and facilities management services company in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $7.3 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexo, Inc. serves more than 10 million customers daily. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, is a member of Sodexo Group, and funds the Sodexo Foundation (www.helpstophunger.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $9.2 million in grants to fight hunger in America.
Earlier this year, Sodexo was named one of the top 5 five companies on the 2008 Global Outsourcing 100 List published by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals™ (IAOP). "There's a lot to be proud of…our business is strong and growing in all segments," said Chavel. "In the past 12 months, I'm most proud of the very public and company-wide priority Sodexo has placed on programs and strategy around corporate citizenship."
Sodexo's corporate citizenship priorities include: fighting hunger and malnutrition; improving the quality of life of those served; and protecting the environment.
His favorite part of the business is the people that he's worked with. "I've had the opportunity to work with so many great people who have that deep-rooted spirit of service and who have gone beyond what they needed to do, not only for our clients and customers, but also for our own people," said Chavel.
He has found the toughest issues and decisions involve people and, because they do, it makes it personal. He lives by a "mission/ business first, people always" motto, and his challenge of leadership is to wisely balance the two.
Keeping employees happy is attainable, according to Chavel, by providing clear direction, setting expectations, and communicating intent. "I give them the tools they need to succeed, and get out of their way," observed Chavel. He tries to stay focused on what the objectives are and on being a good communicator. "I'm not a micro-manager. I trust and respect the accountability that I convey to people and that they know they have the responsibility to deliver."
You can also read the article here .
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