24 http://www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014an oil company executive and be-
come a priest. “It was a very dark
time for my wife, Caroline, and my-
self, but in a strange way it actually
brought us closer to God,” he told
The Sunday Timesin 2011.Although managers and colleagues
at Elf Aquitaine and Enterprise Oil in
Paris and London were aware that
Welby was an active member of St
Michael’s in Paris and Holy Trinity,
Brompton, in London, they were sur-
prised when he announced the reason
for his resignationin 1989. “He was
obviously going places,” a former
colleague told The Independent. “If
you’d said in ten years’ time he’ll be
in the Church, I’d have said no —
he’ll be the finance director of a top
FTSEcompany.”
After leaving the oil companies,
where he had been involved in West
African and North Sea oil projects,booklet [(bUklEt] Broschüre; hier: klei-
nes Buch
canon [(kÄnEn] Domherr, Kanonikus
chair sth. [tSeE] den Vorsitz bei etw.
innehaben
dean [di:n] Dekan(in)
diocese[(daIEsIs] Diözese
FTSE (Financial Times wichtigster britischer
Stock Exchange) Aktienmarkt
[fUtsi] UK
go places sehr weit kommen
[(gEU )pleIsIz] ifml.
hospital trust Krankenhausver-
[(hQspIt&l trVst] bund
hostage: be held ~ als Geisel gefangen-
[(hQstIdZ] gehalten werden
hostage-taker Geiselnehmer(in)
[(hQstIdZ )teIkE]
NHS (National Health staatlicher britischer
Service) Gesundheitsdienst
[)en eItS (es] UK
reconciliation Versöhnung
[)rekEnsIli(eIS&n]
resignation Rücktritt
[)rezIg(neIS&n]
sin [sIn] sündigen
unpretentious schlicht, bescheiden
[)Vnpri(tenSEs]“Jesus didn’t live in a palace.
In fact, the people who did live in
palaces wanted to kill him”
Welby studied theology at St John’s
College in Durham, focusing on busi-
ness ethics. A bookletcalled Can
Companies Sin?is based on his 1992
dissertation.
For the next 15 years, Welby held a
variety of positions in the dioceseof
Coventry, culminating in the roles of
canonand deanof Coventry Cathe-
dral. A popular, unpretentiouspriest,
he was known for increasing church
attendance. During this period, he
chairedan NHShospital trustand
started the International Centre for
Reconciliation, travelling frequently
to Africa and the Middle East. Once,
he was nearly held hostage, but man-
aged to convince the African hostage-
takersthat “nobody would pay to
have me back”.
From 2007 to 2011, Welby was
dean of Liverpool, one of the poorest
areas of Britain. Here, too, he in-
creased church attendance whileLeaders: Welby meets Pope FrancisPartners: Welby and his wife,
Caroline, have five childrenAFP/Getty Imagespicture-alliance/dpaGLOBAL BUSINESS PROFILE22-25 Global mainC_2_14.qxd 14.01.14 13:44 Seite 24