George Shaheen

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George Shaheen
Born (1944-07-11) July 11, 1944 (age 79)
Alma materBradley University
OccupationBusinessman
Years active1970s-present

George T. Shaheen (born July 11, 1944) is an American businessman. He became chief executive at management consulting firm Andersen Consulting in 1989,[1] and in 1999 became CEO of Webvan.[2] Shaheen was CEO of Siebel Systems from 2005 until 2006.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

George Shaheen was born in 1944[4] and grew up with his twin Gerald in Elmwood, Illinois.[5] Shaheen is an American of Lebanese descent.[6] At age 13[5] he worked at the family grocery shop in town. He holds a master's degree in finance from Bradley University, graduating in 1967 and going to work at Arthur Andersen.[5]

Career[edit]

Andersen[edit]

He was sent by Arthur Andersen in 1977 in South Bend, Indiana and moved in 1986 to Silicon Valley.[5] He became the chief at Andersen's consulting arm in 1989, and "oversaw the move to set up Andersen Consulting as a free-standing unit."[5] He was chief executive at management consulting firm Andersen Consulting from 1989.[1] At Andersen, as CEO "its revenue increased from $1.1 billion to $8.3 billion."[1] He was CEO until 1999, before moving on to online grocer Webvan.[2] The move "shocked colleagues" at Andersen Consulting.[7] After he left Andersen Consulting, it was renamed Accenture,[2] and Shaheen missed out on the windfall of the Accenture initial public offering.[8]

Webvan[edit]

He joined Webvan while it was "one of the largest start-ups during the Dot-com Bubble," with plans to deliver online grocery orders within 30 minutes.[9] His Webvan employment agreement, signed September 19, 1999 was filed with the SEC.[10] Under Shaheen, the company underwent an IPO in November 1999, raising $375 million with stocks soaring, and the company valued at $8.45 billion.[1] Shares afterwards dropped sharply[11] with the dotcom bubble.[1] He resigned as CEO of WebVan in April 2001.[4][11] His retirement pack included collecting $375,000 each year for the rest of his life from WebVan.[1] Webvan declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001.[9] When the company filed bankruptcy, Shaheen became an unsecured creditor.[12] In 2010, Business Insider named him one of the 15 Worst CEOs in American History, citing his involvement with Webvan.[9]

Siebel Systems[edit]

Appointed on April 13, 2005,[13] in 2005-2006, Shaheen was CEO of Siebel Systems, Inc.[3] and served as CEO when it merged with Oracle[14] in 2005, five months after his appointment as CEO.[15] He had joined the Siebel Systems board in 1995, and he remained a director after becoming CEO.[13] He did not stay on with Oracle after the merger.

In 2013, he was on the board of [24]7.[16]

Cultural references[edit]

George Shaheen was the target of parody cartoon Bigtime Consulting, which parodied Andersen Consulting and had a very similar CEO character named George Unseen.[17]

Personal life[edit]

In 1999, he lived in Silicon Valley.[5] He has been married to Darlene Shaheen since 1984.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Greg Sandoval (January 2, 2002). "Ex-Webvan CEO to collect $375,000 yearly". CNET. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Stephan Gandel (June 4, 2015). "In the age of Uber, does the Fortune 500 still matter?". Fortune. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  3. ^ a b George Shaheen Named To Board Of Directors At Closedloop Solutions Corporate NewsWire Press Release BizWiz Company News BizWizWire Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Grainger David (May 14, 2001). "George Shaheen". Fortune. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Robert Lenzner (March 8, 1999). "The messiahs of the network". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  6. ^ Prominent Lebanese Americans - AMALID.COM Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Roger O Crockett (October 3, 1999). "George Shaheen: Webvan Nets A Ceo". Bloomberg.
  8. ^ "Consulting Magazine - the #1 Online and Printed Resource for Consulting Professionals". Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  9. ^ a b c "The 15 Worst CEOs In American History". Business Insider. May 4, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  10. ^ "FindLaw - Agreement of Employment - Webvan Group Inc. And George T. Shaheen". Archived from the original on 2007-06-17. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  11. ^ a b Nick Wingfield (April 16, 2001). "George Shaheen quits as Webvan CEO". ZDnet. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  12. ^ "Nevadans lose jobs at 'Net's Webvan". Las Vegas Sun. July 9, 2001. "The company's list of unsecured creditors will include Webvan's former CEO George Shaheen, who resigned in April, triggering a clause in his contract that required the company to pay him $31,250 per month for the rest of his life. With the bankruptcy, Shaheen "will have to get in line with the rest of our creditors," Grebey said."
  13. ^ a b "Siebel Systems Names George T. Shaheen as CEO". PAC Online. April 13, 2005. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  14. ^ "George Shaheen - Forbes". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  15. ^ Joann S. Lublin (February 3, 2009). "A CEO Gets Rare Second Act". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  16. ^ Cromwell Schubarth (May 15, 2013). "Predictive CRM startup [24]7 buys Shopalize". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  17. ^ "BigTime Consulting". Retrieved January 16, 2019.
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