Gerard Kleisterlee
Born in Ludwigsburg, Germany, on 28 September 1946 to Dutch and German parents, he was raised in the Netherlands.[1][2][3] He was educated at a Jesuit-run Canisius College in Winterswijk,[4][5] followed by the Eindhoven University of Technology, where he earned a MSc degree in electronic engineering.[citation needed] Trained as an electronics engineer, like his father, he worked at Philips for almost all of his life.[10] His tenure as CEO has been credited with turning the company around and returning Philips to its original focus areas.A director of Dell, Kleisterlee was nominated as the successor at Vodafone to chairman John Bond in January 2011, a position he assumed in July 2011.