Charles Koch
Charles Koch
Charles de Ganahl Kochis an American businessman, political donor and philanthropist. He is co-owner, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, while his brother David H. Koch serves as Executive Vice President. Charles and David each own 42% of the conglomerate. The brothers inherited the business from their father, Fred C. Koch, then expanded the business. Originally involved exclusively in oil refining and chemicals, Koch Industries now includes process and pollution control equipment and technologies; polymers...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusiness Executive
Date of Birth1 November 1935
CityWichita, KS
CountryUnited States of America
Both my parents were a tremendous influence on me. My father's influence came from - he decided well, probably before we were born that as he put it, 'I'm not going to have any kids who are country club bums.'
First word [of my father] when I arrived [as a CEO] is, 'Son, i hope your first deal is a loser, otherwise, you'll think you're a lot smarter than you are.' But he had tremendous values, tremendous integrity, humility, work ethic and terrific thirst for knowledge.
My father told me "If you choose to let this money destroy your initiative and independence, then it will be a curse to you and my action in giving it to you will have been a mistake. I shall regret very much to have you miss the glorious feeling of accomplishment. Remember that often adversity is a blessing in disguise and is certainly the greatest character builder."
My father wanted to instill the work ethic. And, because he knew if you don't learn to work to be more productive to improve your efficiency, to cooperate with other people at an early age, you may never learn those habits.
Years later, when I asked my father, I said 'Pop, why were you so much harder on me than my younger brothers?' he said, son, you plum wore me out.
Koch companies employ 60,000 Americans, who make many thousands of products that Americans want and need.
Our hearts and prayers go out to all of these people as they begin the hard work of rebuilding their lives.
Joe's tremendous leadership throughout his six years as president and chief operating officer gives us confidence he will deliver more of the same at Georgia-Pacific. In Bill's 32 years with Koch, he has done an exemplary job of building our operations excellence capability. I am certain Joe and Bill, along with the outstanding Georgia-Pacific team, will continue Georgia-Pacific's proud tradition.
Joe's tremendous leadership throughout his six years as Koch Industries' president and chief operating officer gives us confidence he will deliver more of the same at Georgia-Pacific. Bill, during his 32 years with Koch, has done an exemplary job of building our operations excellence capability. I am certain Joe and Bill, along with the outstanding Georgia-Pacific team, will continue Georgia-Pacific's proud tradition.
I don't want to dedicate my life to getting publicity.
Far too many well-connected businesses are feeding at the federal trough. By addressing corporate welfare as well as other forms of welfare, we would add a whole new level of understanding to the notion of entitlement reform.
The best way to make money is to have more economic freedom, which is why we are one of the very few large companies that are consistently for it.
In business, real jobs profitably produce goods and services that people value more highly than their alternatives. Subsidizing inefficient jobs is costly, wastes resources, and weakens our economy.
Far from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs - even when we benefit from them.