MINNETONKA, Minn., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Carlson Companies, the Minnesota-based travel, hospitality and marketing conglomerate, gets its first non-family member as chief executive March 1.
Hubert Joly, a French executive currently overseeing Carlson Wagonlit Travel, will succeed Marilyn Carlson Nelson, who for a decade ran the company founded by her father, Curt Carlson, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis reported Wednesday.
Joly, 48, will become chief executive officer at the the 70-year-old global concern headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. Nelson, 68, will remain chairman of the board.
"In 70 years we've had three CEOs," Carlson Nelson said. "Today we welcome a new member of this exclusive club, Hubert Joly."
Even though the U.S. economy may be wobbly, Joly said economies elsewhere in the world are strong.
"The rest of the world is operating in a robust way," he said. "Carlson, being a global company, has opportunities outside the U.S."
Joly's selection caps a sometimes rocky 18 months of succession planning and executive search for the multi-billion dollar business. The search began after Carlson Nelson's son, Curtis, the one-time heir-apparent, left the business in a huff when it became apparent that he would not be given the top job, the newspaper reported.
