Rebecca Mark-Jusbasche was famous as the head of the Enron International division of Enron. She later was promoted to Vice-Chairman of Enron, but resigned from the company in 2000. [1].
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Early life
Rebecca Sue Pulliam was born in Kirksville, Missouri, and grew up on a farm.[2] She attended William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri until she transferred to Baylor University, a Baptist school in Waco, Texas. She received a BA in psychology from Baylor in 1976 but did not find an internship working with juvenile delinquents fulfilling. She went back to school and got an MA in international management, also from Baylor, in 1977. She moved to Houston, Texas where she got a job in banking and married Thomas Mark, also a Baylor grad. The two had identical twin boys. After a divorce, Mark attended Harvard Business School with the twins in tow. Mark worked for First City National Bank in Houston, and then an energy company called Continental Resources, which through a series of mergers and acquisitions became part of Enron.
At Enron
At Enron, Mark became head of Enron Development in 1991, and Enron International in 1996. Because she had a position that could be seen as equal in power to that of Skilling, and had control over all the areas Skilling didn't. Skilling believed that the company didn't need assets and should be pushing its trading sector which proved to be popular with Lay. However, this proved to be counter productive to Mark's business sector, since it relied solely on assets. In order to counter this, Mark started a massive campaign to expand operations to other countries. However, she was criticized for her blatant ignorance.
Enron would suffer even greater losses from another one of Mark's ventures: the Dabhol power plant in India. Enron and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board of India agreed in December 1993 to build a power plant capable of producing 2,015 MW of power. The cost was estimated at $2.8 billion, and the MSEB guaranteed to buy 90% of the power produced by the plant. Problems with financing immediately arose, and in 1995, BJP, the main national opposition party opposed the plant after winning state elections in Maharashtra. Allegations of bribery[3] and human-rights abuses (never proven) against Enron led to riots and the cancellation of the plant in August 1995. Mark and Enron re-negotiated with the local government and struck a new bargain in February, 1996, but the project fell further behind schedule and costs soared to $3 billion. Eventually, after Mark had left Enron International, the plant was shut down when the MSEB proved unable to afford the power. Enron spent $900m on Dabhol and lost most of it. Four years after Enron's bankruptcy, in 2005, an Indian company was set up to revive the moribund Dahbol facility.
In 1998, Mark led Enron into the purchase of British water utility Wessex Water, paying 30% more than the market capitalisation. The company was run from a subsidiary, Azurix which was controlled by Enron through a Special Purpose Entity called Atlantic Water Trust [1][2].[3] In August 2000 Mark resigned from Enron, this marked the end of a long rivalry with CEO Jeff Skilling, and a short lived victory for his strategic vision of the firm.[4]
After Enron
Mark, now Rebecca Mark-Jusbasche after her marriage to Michael Jusbasche in October 1999, left Enron at a fortunate time, selling her stock for $80 million before the company collapsed in 2001. Mark was never accused of wrongdoing in the ensuing series of scandals and prosecutions.
She has twins enrolled in college. After her remarriage to Michael Jusbasche, the two adopted a two year old boy from Kazakhstan. She also owns and operates cattle ranches in Watrous, New Mexico and Colorado.
References
- ^ The Women of Enron : A Separate Peace | Fast Company
- ^ The Hindu Business Line : Where is `Mark the shark?'
- Eichenwald, Kurt. Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story. 2005, Broadway, 768 pages. A history of Enron.
- McLean, Bethany, and Peter Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. 2003, Penguin, 464 pages.
See also
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