Issa El-Assad, CEO of Q Link Wireless and Quadrant Holdings writes about William Doyle, CEO of PotashCorp.
Every time we attempt to rank the most prolific, recognized and successful CEOs in the world of business, the name William Doyle always comes up. Commonly known as Bill, he is the CEO of the Potash Corporation, the world’s largest fertilizer company. Doyle served for 15 years as the CEO of PotashCorp since he was appointed back in 1999 until April the 6th, 2014, when he announced his intentions to end his term on July 1, 2015.
Doyle went ahead to switch roles from CEO and president of the company to become its Senior Advisor on July 1st, 2014. Previously, he had served the International Fertilizer Industry Association as the president of the trade association that represents the global fertilizer industry.
William Doyle is the 10th in a ten-part series profiling Issa Asad’s ranking of the top CEOs of the world. Issa Asad is a Florida-based telecommunications and technology expert and has been in the industry for close to 20 ans. He has been a CEO and managing member of various companies, and is currently the CEO of Q Link Wireless and Quadrant Holdings, both located in South Florida.
Bill Doyle’s Rise to Becoming CEO of PotashCorp
Doyle was there from the humble beginnings of the organization; he served on PotashCorp’s Board of Directors since it first got listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges in 1989. He served the company for 12 years in this capacity as one of its senior managers. In July 1, 1991, he was appointed as the President and CEO of PotashCorp, a company that he had served tirelessly for years. Doyle’s leadership saw him successfully run a company that controlled one of Earth’s most coveted assets.
A few years before he took over, PotashCorp had a market capitalization of close to $625 million at the time it went public. At the moment, the company has a market capitalization of almost $33 billion. Doyle was a strategic CEO who led a couple of investments in South America, Asia, and the Middle East.
Challenges
Doyle did not have it easy throughout his tenure. He encountered a few challenges at PotashCorp, with the biggest one being the attempted hostile takeover by BHP Billiton, a mining rival in the industry. Over the last few years, the prices per ton have dropped as a result of worldwide high volumes and a soft demand for fertilizer. Doyle also had to oversee the layoff of 18% of PotashCorp’s workforce with those that worked at Saskatchewan mines being the majority of the casualties.
Cependant, despite all these challenges, Doyle managed to keep the company functional and profitable, and maintained its high standards and good reputation. The fact that he fended off the hostile takeover in 2010 and saw the company through the recession, makes him one of the best CEOs in the world.
PotashCorp after William Doyle
Just like any other growing company, PotashCorp is expected to continue to flourish and satisfy the shareholders in the coming years. Jochen Tilk is Doyle’s successor and he is expected to take the company forward from where his predecessor left. Their management style and strategies are not similar; Doyle was an outstanding stock promoter and Tilk is rather the conservative and quiet mine operator. It surely will be interesting to see how things unfold for PotashCorp in the coming years.
