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Continued from previous page
Old Europe Is Renewed and
Transformed
Jacob Wallenberg, W'80, WG'81
Chairman, Investor, Stockholm
Jacob Wallenberg's most vivid memory from the
Wharton Centennial has a decided slapstick flair. He
was one of the organizers of the student Centennial
Ball, spending hours planning and marketing a black-tie
bash to commemorate the School's anniversary.
"The event was crowned with a terrific birthday cake
that was to be presented to the Dean on the stage of the ballroom,"
he recounts. "But the cake was sitting on a huge table
with wheels. When they moved the cart, the cake slid off the
table and smashed on the floor."
The cake didn't quite make it, but the same can't be said of
Wallenberg. He came to Wharton as an undergraduate after
serving as an officer in the Swedish armed forces and as an intern
at Morgan Stanley, and he left five years later with both
bachelor and MBA degrees. As a slightly older student, he
found the submatriculation process to be a natural choice. "It
was me and the rocket scientists! I was fortunate to be admitted,"
he says. "But suddenly as an MBA student, here I was
studying and working together with people my own age, with
a lot more experience. I enjoyed it immensely. It was a great
starting point to working life."
After graduation, Wallenberg continued what he calls his
"American experience" by working at JP Morgan on Wall
Street for two years. He then moved to London to work at
the merchant bank Hambros, then eastward again, working
in Asia for SEB before returning home to Sweden. Today he
is chairman of Investor, a holding company with long-term
stakes in Ericsson, AstraZeneca, ABB, Electrolux, Scania, and
SEB. Throughout his business travels, Wallenberg had an up-
close look at some major events.
"For a European, to see the Iron Curtain disappearing in
1989 was extraordinary," he says. "It created immense opportunity,
but above all, freedom—freedom for millions and
millions of people. This had a profound effect on the psychology
of Europe."
At the same time, he says, the European Union became
stronger and stronger, and commercial markets opened up in
Eastern Europe. "This has formed me considerably, coming
from a country with borders lined with strong fences 20 years
ago, to living in a country that's a member of the European
Union," he says. "People and goods travel freely, they cross
borders; it's a dramatic difference. And anyone who compares
the lines of every airport in Europe from before and after
knows what a difference it makes!"
Aside from the daily conveniences offered via the
European Union, Wallenberg and Investor became directly
involved in the European Commission's 14-year-long efforts
to create a single European market in financial services.
He has also been affected by the rapid economic emergence
of China, where he spent part of his early career. "I went
to China the first time in 1984. There was one hotel for
Westerners. Today, 20 years later roughly, it is just as developed as any American city when it comes to commercial
services," he says. "It's been an enormous change in very short
time period. The changes have been beyond comprehension,
which I think everyone would agree with."
When asked the most important lesson he learned since
Wharton, he answers without hesitation, "How to lead
people. I was an officer before Wharton, and at Wharton we
studied management in class and on teams. So in fact, I've
been practicing a long time—more than 30 years—but
learning to lead is something you never finish."
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