Biography of Peter Georgescu

Mr. Georgescu has been a member of IFF's Board of Directors since 1999. He is Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee, which recruits, reviews qualifications of, and recommends nominees to fill Board vacancies and newly created directorships, and monitors and makes recommendations to the Board on corporate governance issues.

IFF Director Peter A. Georgescu has had a legendary career in an industry he almost never considered, advertising. Set to go into the oil business after completing his MBA at Stanford Business School, Georgescu interviewed with Young & Rubicam purely by chance and changed his mind about his career objectives. “Even in those early days, I thought it would be an exciting, vibrant business,” Georgescu said. “I liked that the ultimate consumer has the power to decide what to purchase in this world and I thought that companies with the skills to understand and communicate with the consumer would be both powerful and enduring businesses. And I always liked people, so I felt a business dealing directly with consumers would be challenging and productive.”

In his 37 year career with Y&R, one of the world's largest commercial communications companies, Georgescu served in a variety of senior positions, including President of Y&R Advertising and President of Young & Rubicam's former international division, before becoming the company's eighth CEO in 1994, a position he held until his retirement in January 2000. He made his mark on the advertising world in countless ways: overseeing well-known campaigns like the “softer side of Sears,” capturing large pieces of business (including nearly all of Citibank's global advertising and direct marketing), and advocating innovative new advertising practices. Georgescu was behind the development of Y&R's BrandAsset Valuator, a proprietary model for diagnosing and managing brands and has also been a leading advocate for pay-for-performance contracts, a sliding scale that measures ad success against the campaign’s objectives, instead of charging the traditional 15 percent agency commission. In 2001, his accomplishments earned him induction into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Now in what he calls an “unemployed state of being,” Georgescu concentrates his activities in several diverse areas. In addition to IFF, he is a director of Levi Strauss & Co., Toys “R” Us, Inc., and EMI. He is involved in several not-for-profit organizations, including A Better Chance, which provides educational and career opportunities for high-achieving students of color, and he is Vice Chairman of New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is an aspiring writer and spends time traveling with his wife. “She picks wonderful venues,” Georgescu said. “We've been to Burma, northern Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. I'd been all over Asia many times, but never to those places because that's not where business is. The ability to grow professionally, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually has been the greatest gift of my life and the most significant aspect of my development as a person. Traveling is another opportunity to grow and learn.”