FROM JOHANNESBURG TO TOP CEO IN USA

Steven Collis (57) is the CEO of top pharmaceutical services firm, AmerisourceBergen, with headquarters in Pennsylvania. It is one of America’s big three pharmaceutical services firms, listed 29th on the Fortune 500 list, employs 13 000 people, and has revenues of more than R600-billion. The company ships pharmaceuticals to more than 20 000 customers every day. Steven's father was a Rosebank dentist and his mother worked for a charity. He matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1978. After school he earned a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours degree from University of the Witwatersrand. He served in the South African Air Force's Finance Department as a conscript. Afterwards he worked for a few years at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He worked for the South African business tycoon brothers, Solly and Abe Krok, promoting an automotive accessories business, and was later involved with the Epilady hair-removal product. He moved to the USA in 1988 to promote the products, but joined a small health care company in southern California after financial troubles beset the South African products. He was a co-organiser of a charity cycle race in aid of multiple sclerosis and befriended cyclist Neil Dimick, the Chief Financial Officer of what was then Amerisource Health Corporation, which in 1994 became what is today AmerisourceBergen. In November 2010 he was appointed President and in July 2011 CEO. Steven lives with his wife, Toni, and three children in Philadelphia.