Karl von der Heyden is a German-American businessman best known for his former roles as the Co- Chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, and CFO of PepsiCo, as well as multiple other positions and roles in the world of finance and business.

Early life

Karl von der Heyden was born in 1936 in Berlin, Germany,and attended the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. He graduated from Duke University in 1962 and obtained an MBA degree from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

of the University of Pennsylvania in 1964.

Career

Karl von der Heyden began his business career as a management trainee at the

Berliner Bank Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany Berliner may also refer to: People * Berliner (surname) Places * Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States * Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany ...

AG. He joined

Coopers & Lybrand PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

, Philadelphia, in 1963, and in 1966 he moved to

Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes Inc. is an American technology company most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment and services, and with expansions into e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who ...

, where he advanced to the position of corporate controller. Karl von der Heyden was senior vice president, chief financial officer and a director of H.J. Heinz Company. He joined Heinz in 1980 as vice president of finance and treasurer. Previously, von der Heyden had worked for PepsiCo in various senior management capacities: vice president, controller from 1974 to 1977, chief financial officer of Pepsi-Cola Company from 1977–1979, and then vice president of manufacturing for the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group. In December 1993 he took over as president and chief executive officer at financially troubled Metallgesellschaft Corp. on an interim basis and successfully restructured the company in a period of seven months. He had also served as Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Advisory Council (FASAC). He was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of PepsiCo, Inc. from 1996 to 2001. He had rejoined the Company in September 1996 as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. During his tenure, he concentrated on re-focusing the company by spinning off or selling the restaurant companies, buying Tropicana and Quaker Oats, and taking the bottling business, Pepsi Bottling Group, public, among other things. He had previously retired from RJR Nabisco, where he was co-chairman and chief executive officer, through May 1993 and chief financial officer since 1989.

Philanthropy

Karl von der Heyden has made substantial donations to Duke University. He and his wife donated $1 million to the University in 1995 to establish the von der Heyden Fellows Program Endowment Fund and $4 million in 2000 to expand the libraries. The Karl and Mary Ellen von der Heyden Pavilion was completed in 2005, and remains a popular student eatery, meeting, and study space on Duke University's West Campus. Travel + Leisure Magazine has included the Karl and Mary Ellen von der Heyden Pavilion in their list of America's most beautiful college libraries. In 2015, von der Heyden gave $7 million to Duke towards a new arts center and $1 million to help fund graduate fellowships. That gift was used to establish The von der Heyden Family Global Health Fellowship Fund, which will continue to support graduate level studies through the Duke Global Health Institute. In 2007, the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellowship in Fiction was established to bring talented novelists to Berlin as part of the American Academy’s residential fellowship program. In 2017, the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellowship was established at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library.

Other

Karl von der Heyden is the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence and the

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

. In 2010 he was inducted into the Financial Executives International Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was awarded the Duke University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service. Karl von der Heyden has served on the boards of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.,

Macy's, Inc Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shilli ...

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a transatlantic multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext and NYSE Arca (formerly known as ArcaEx). NYSE merged with Archi ...

, DreamWorks Animation,

Aramark Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American food service, facilities, and uniform services provider to clients in areas including education, healthcare, business, prisons, and leisure. It operates in North America (United S ...

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...

, and numerous other companies. He served as Co-Chairman of the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

.Dr. Henry A. Kissinger and Karl von der Heyden Elected Co-Chairmen of the American Academy in Berlin,http://www.americanacademyinberlin.de, The American Academy in Berlin,February 12, 2009,accessdate 2009-12-12 and as a former trustee of Duke University, the

YMCA of Greater New York YMCA of Greater New York is a community service organization, the largest YMCA in North America and also New York City's largest private youth-serving organization serving more than five hundred thousand each year. The New York chapter formed in ...

, and other nonprofit organizations. Karl von der Heyden is the author of the memoi
''Surviving Berlin, An Oral History''
which was released in Germany under the titl
''Von Berlin Nach New York''
He has two children and five grandchildren, and lives with his wife, Mary Ellen, in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:von Der Heyden, Karl Emigrants from West Germany to the United States Duke University alumni Living people American chief financial officers 1936 births American chief executives of food industry companies Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni German chairpersons of corporations German chief executives R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company PepsiCo people