People to Watch In International Business

By Kathleen Kingsbury

David Calhoun

GOING PRIVATE

Public companies, beware: private-equity firms are trolling for your top managers. General Electric became the latest prey in August, when VNU Media, a Dutch market-research firm, poached 27-year GE veteran David Calhoun for its top job. As takeovers become larger, private-equity firms increasingly value strong management, and Calhoun, 49, joins a growing line of execs defecting from their listed companies. They're lured away by private equity's promise of less scrutiny and big financial reward. Calhoun's new pay is rumored at around $100 million. It's a price tag for which VNU's owners--a group of private-equity firms, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, that acquired the company for $9.8 billion in July--will expect big results, and Calhoun, who headed GE's $47 billion infrastructure unit, is unlikely to disappoint. At VNU, he's charged with turning around its Nielsen television-ratings system as well as the Hollywood Reporter and BillBoard magazine. Nothing a little Six Sigma can't fix.

Donna DeBerry

RUNNING UP DIVERSITY

To Donna DeBerry, teamwork is integral to sports--a topic she'll have to know a lot about as Nike's newest exec--but equally important is cultivating self-worth. "On a playing field, in an office environment, it must also be about developing unique personal character," DeBerry, 51, says. It's a trait she had instilled in her early on as her father's Air Force career took her family to many postings--a global upbringing that DeBerry sees as her key qualification for becoming Nike's first vice president for diversity. A former Wyndham International executive, she will also bring along the experience of being one of the first African Americans in the hotel industry's top ranks. What made Nike, a company known for its inclusive attitude toward customers and employees alike, decide to beef up diversity now? As DeBerry puts it, "Now we'll just do it better."

Kathleen Taylor

CHECKING IN AROUND THE GLOBE

Ask Kathleen Taylor where she wants to travel next, and she has a laundry list ready: South Africa, Russia, Australia. Maybe it's the complimentary stays in the lap of luxury Taylor is guaranteed as the Four Seasons' new head of global business and hotel operations--a perk that should explain an average tenure of 17 years among company managers. But more likely, it's the sense of wonderment at the world that Taylor, 49, brings to her job. Describing new hotels in China, India and Italy, she gushes. Explaining why Four Seasons still builds new properties in the volatile Middle East, she exudes hope. "I never get sick of visiting new places," says Taylor, who joined Four Seasons in 1989. Since she's overseeing 70 hotels in 31 countries and another 25 in development, that's a good attitude to have.