CEOs Juggle Love, Power
Like High-Powered Careers,
A Couple's New Marriage
Requires Careful Cultivation
SEATTLE -- From her plushly carpeted office with its panoramic mountain view, the chief executive of Safeco Corp. dashes off personal emails a couple times a day to the corner-office occupant at Puget Energy Inc. in nearby Bellevue, Wash.
"This is the most boring meeting I've ever been in in my life," Paula Rosput Reynolds punched into her BlackBerry recently. In another emailed message, her fellow CEO proposed a romantic interlude for the following Saturday.
An illicit workplace affair? Hardly. Ms. Reynolds, 49 years old, is married to Stephen P. Reynolds, the 58-year-old head of a utility holding company. According to Catalyst, a New York research group, the two are the only chief executives of major U.S. public companies who are wedded to each other.
The power couple tied the knot in October 2004, when she was still running AGL Resources Inc., an energy holding company in Atlanta. For 14 months, Mr. Reynolds left his office at noon Friday and flew cross country to join her on weekends. The two have shared a home since January, when she switched industries to take command of Safeco, a major insurer. Her latest perch raised her profile considerably. With a guaranteed $2 million in salary and bonus for 2006, she now earns much more than her husband and is one of only eight female CEOs at the nation's 500 biggest businesses.
Chief Executives Paula Rosput Reynolds and Stephen P. Reynolds in their kitchen.
Though the Reynoldses now have plenty of money to spend, they have scant time to spend with each other. So they work just as hard to cultivate their marriage as they do tending their careers. Their experience offers a rare window into a marriage between two very high-powered, ambitious executives.
Touchy issues such as job transfers, long hours, travel and promotion envy can come between couples as they struggle to advance their careers. Some spouses with pressure-cooker jobs can't sustain their delicate balancing acts. Pamela Strobel quit last fall as Exelon Corp.'s chief administrative officer partly because Nicor Inc. had recently promoted her husband, Russ M. Strobel, to chief executive. "Having two utility executives in one home is sometimes high stress," she says.
The Reynoldses have each devised a simple recipe for career-couple success. "Honesty, fidelity and habit," recommends Ms. Reynolds, an intense, fast talker with salt-and-pepper hair. "Really like each other and really know each other," counsels Mr. Reynolds, an even-tempered man whose toothy grin resembles Jimmy Carter's.
Mr. Reynolds, a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. supervising rate engineer, first met Paula Rosput, then a Boston consultant, in 1979, when he interviewed her for a job as an economist. He hired her and both eventually rose into management. They soon became friends as well as colleagues, but he was already married and she eventually got married too.
Ms. Rosput quit the company 16 years later to became president of a Panhandle Eastern Corp. unit in Houston. But the two stayed in touch, mainly through email. In late 1997, Mr. Reynolds took early retirement, embracing solo consulting and traveling from Alaska to Australia. They occasionally saw each other during his trips to Houston.
By late 2001, Mr. Reynolds was a Houston resident, and Ms. Rosput was leading AGL from Atlanta. Both were also divorced. But just when their friendship seemed poised to turn into romance, Puget Energy offered Mr. Reynolds a chance to run a public company.
Safeco Chief Executive Paula Rosput Reynolds in her office in Seattle
The former colleagues didn't feel ready for a deeper commitment. "We were both very career-oriented people," Mr. Reynolds remembers. Nonetheless, once he moved to suburban Seattle, a flurry of long-distance dates ensued and their love soon blossomed.
Organizing their sunset beach wedding at Sea Island, Ga., was a challenge. The CEOs had to squeeze it in between board meetings and earnings conference calls. To encourage attendance by their boards, they arranged a directors' golf tournament at Sea Island the same day.
The farflung spouses chatted every workday, often at odd hours, though they took care not to discuss confidential business topics. Mr. Reynolds made the weekly trek to Atlanta because his bride was living with her teenage son and ailing, elderly father. Unlike most commuter couples, however, he flew free -- as the spouse of a Delta Air Lines board member, a seat she was elected to just weeks before the wedding.
Puget Energy board members didn't mind that their hard-working leader left early Friday and missed certain corporate weekend events, recollects Phyllis Campbell, a Puget Energy director. However, they feared Mr. Reynolds might soon quit the company and move to Atlanta. "It wasn't a question of if," Ms. Campbell recalls. "It was, 'When?' "
The board's solution: golden handcuffs. It bestowed an equity grant that effectively required the chief executive to stay put until spring 2008.
Her husband, Puget Energy CEO Stephen P. Reynolds, in his office in Bellevue, Wash.
While living apart, the Reynoldses tried to keep their professional and personal lives separate, though with mixed results. For example, last June they initially concealed their marital status from most fellow attendees at a Yale University CEO Summit in New York. When summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld asked Ms. Reynolds about alternative energy sources, she gestured toward Mr. Reynolds, saying, "Go to the man next to me."
"We did a check on the hotel reservations last night," Mr. Sonnenfeld interjected. "Is there something you want to confess?"
"We may be the only conference participants who slept together last night," Ms. Reynolds admitted. The titters turned to laughter until Mr. Sonnenfeld disclosed their long-distance marriage. Then, to his wife's dismay, Mr. Reynolds joked that he had persuaded Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein to put his fiancée on the board "so I could fly free." Looking miffed, his wife muttered, "That's not true. That's horrible."
But it was also at that summit that Ms. Reynolds so impressed Andrea Redmond, a Russell Reynolds Associates Inc. recruiter, that Ms. Redmond decided to woo her for Safeco's top spot.
The AGL chief executive wasn't the only insurance-industry novice in the running. Directors also considered her husband, though they ultimately decided he was a solid performer who lacked the skills required, reports Ms. Campbell, then a Safeco board member as well. "Paula," she notes, "had engineered a major turnaround" at AGL.
Safeco directors were also impressed that Ms. Reynolds was candid enough to cite her husband's Seattle-area location as the third reason (after "bigger company" and "different industry") that she wanted the CEO job.
Safeco announced Ms. Reynolds's appointment Dec. 7. Now, she is juggling the demands of a new job, company, industry, city -- and less living space. She has yet to sell her Atlanta home, where her college-student son stays most weekends. She and her father squeezed into Mr. Reynolds's suburban Medina cottage just before she started work Jan. 3.
Living with her spouse full-time required adjustments, too. While her dad has a part-time caregiver, Ms. Reynolds does all the housework, cooking and grocery shopping herself. "It's part of how I keep myself grounded," she says.
She immediately rearranged her husband's underwear, because she disliked the way he folded it. But she is still learning her way around her new home. When he walked in the door at 7 p.m. one recent Friday, she yanked the phone from her ear to ask, "Hey, do you have call waiting, Steve?"
With both CEOs working at least 65 hours a week, Mr. Reynolds sometimes feels "like we're still apart because she's so involved getting to know the job."
Ms. Reynolds's busy schedule also ruined his Valentine's Day surprise. A local singer whom he hired to serenade his wife at Safeco headquarters arrived late, while she was hosting an important meeting. "I had to send him off before he could deliver," Ms. Reynolds says.
Such minor setbacks don't bother them. Thanks to her taking the Safeco job, "I'm the net winner," Mr. Reynolds exults. She agrees, noting that they recently set a record for consecutive nights spent together since their wedding. And what if a future CEO opportunity forces one of them to leave town? "We'd think about living apart again," she replies.
CEO夫妇如何经营婚姻
在华盛顿州西雅图市一间豪华地毯铺就、窗外尽览群山的办公室里，Safeco Corp.的首席执行长(CEO)保拉?雷诺兹(Paula Rosput Reynolds)每天都要和附近贝尔威市Puget Energy Inc.的CEO发上几封电子邮件。
“这是我这辈子开过的最无聊的会议，”保拉有一次在BlackBerry手机中这样写道。而那另一位CEO在最近一次回复中则邀请她下周六共度一个浪漫之夜。
难道他们之间有什么不道德的办公室恋情吗？事实并非如此。今年49岁的保拉早就嫁给了比她大9岁、在公用事业控股公司Puget Energy任CEO的史蒂芬?雷诺兹(Stephen P. Reynolds)。据纽约一家研究机构Catalyst称，他俩是美国大型上市公司中唯一一对CEO夫妇。
这对CEO夫妇于2004年10月结为连理，当时保拉是亚特兰大市一家能源控股公司AGL Resources Inc.的CEO。在14个月当中，史蒂芬每周五中午都早早离开办公室，飞往亚特兰大与保拉共度周末。2005年1月，保拉转行执掌Safeco，两人终于能生活在一起。新职位让保拉一下子备受瞩目，她的固定年薪为200万美元，外加年度奖金，这使她赚的钱超过了丈夫，并成为美国500强公司中八位女CEO中的一员。
虽然雷诺兹夫妇现在衣食无 ，但他们却很少有时间共处，因此两人也用经营事业的态度来经营婚姻。他俩的故事有助于我们了解身居高位、雄心勃勃的CEO夫妇是怎样对待婚姻生活的。
在夫妇俩的职业生涯道路上，总会发生一些敏感问题，比如工作变动、加班、出差和一方升迁带来的心理不平衡等。为此，雷诺兹夫妇有一个简单的解决方法。褐色头发、说话很快的保拉说，这要靠“诚实、忠诚和习惯。” 而脾气更急、笑起来和美国前总统吉米?卡特(Jimmy Carter)很像的史蒂芬说，“要真的彼此喜欢，相互理解。”
1979年，史蒂芬第一次遇见保拉。当时史蒂芬是Pacific Gas & Electric Co.一名负责费率的工程师，而保拉在波士顿当顾问。保拉来Pacific Gas & Electric应征经济学顾问一职，史蒂芬面试并录用了她。两人最终都进入了管理层，并成为好友，但当时史蒂芬已经结婚，保拉最后也嫁给了别人。
16年后，保拉离开公司，在Panhandle Eastern Corp.位于休斯敦的分公司任总裁，但两人仍保持联系，主要通过电子邮件。1997年末，史蒂芬提前退休，从事独立咨询业务，并经常往返于阿拉斯加州和澳大利亚之间。史蒂芬去休斯敦出差时，两人有时会见面。到2001年末，史蒂芬在休斯敦定居下来，而保拉在亚特兰大的AGL任CEO，两人都已离婚。当他们正准备将友谊发展为爱情时，Puget Energy邀请史蒂芬出任这家上市公司的CEO。
两人都还没有准备谈婚论嫁。“那时我们俩都以事业为重，”史蒂芬回忆道。不过，自从史蒂芬搬到西雅图后，两人就开始了长途恋爱，感情一日千里。
但在乔治亚州Sea Island的日落海滩上举行婚礼是个大难题，两人不得不在董事会会议和业绩电话会议中见缝插针地安排时间。为让双方董事会成员都能参加婚礼，他们于同一天在Sea Island安排了一场董事高尔夫锦标赛。
这对两地分居的CEO夫妇每天都要在闲暇时聊上几句，不过两人尽可能不谈涉及商业秘密的公事。史蒂芬每周都会去亚特兰大，因为保拉和她十几岁的儿子以及身体欠佳的年迈父亲住在那里。不过和大多数两地分居的夫妇不同，史蒂芬可以免费乘坐飞机，这是因为保拉在结婚前几个星期刚被选为达美航空(Delta Air Lines)的董事。
Puget Energy的董事菲利斯?坎贝尔(Phyllis Campbell)回忆说，公司的董事们并不介意他们工作勤勉的CEO每周五早点下班，以及不能参加公司在周末组织的活动。不过，他们担心史蒂芬不久就会辞职离开，搬去亚特兰大住。“史蒂芬会离开已经没有悬念，”坎贝尔女士说，“问题是他什么时候会走。”
董事会的解决方案是：给史蒂芬戴上金手铐。董事会通过一项决议，授予史蒂夫股票期权，但要求他一直呆到2008年才能兑现。
两地分隔之时，雷诺兹夫妇尝试著把工作与个人生活分开，不过有时成功，有时却做不到。举例而言，2005年6月，他们参加在纽约举行的耶鲁大学CEO峰会(Yale University CEO Summit)时，对大多数与会者隐瞒了两人的婚姻状况。当大会组织者杰弗瑞?桑费尔德(Jeffrey Sonnenfeld)问保拉一个关于替代能源的问题时，保拉指著史蒂芬说，“你去问我边上这个人好了。”
“我们昨晚查过饭店登记记录了，”桑费尔德说，“有些事情你应该坦白了吧？”
“我俩可能是昨晚唯一睡在一起的与会代表，”保拉承认道。大家从窃笑转为哄堂大笑，直到桑费尔德将他俩的婚事公之于众。然后，让保拉恼火的是，史蒂芬还开玩笑说，是他说服达美航空的CEO杰瑞德?格林斯坦(Gerald Grinstein)让保拉出任公司董事，这样他就可以免费坐飞机了。保拉有些不高兴，低声嘟囔道，“才不是这样呢，这样做是不对的。”
不过，也就是在这次峰会上，保拉给Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.负责猎头工作的安德里亚?雷德蒙(Andrea Redmond)留下了深刻印象，使雷德蒙决定招募保拉出任Safeco的CEO一职。
保拉并非Safeco唯一考虑的非保险行业背景的接班人，公司董事们也考虑过她丈夫史蒂芬，不过最后认为他虽然资历不错，但不具备公司需要的能力，当时也在Safeco公司担任董事的坎贝尔(Campbell)女士回忆道。“因为保拉曾成功地使AGL公司扭亏为盈。”
Safeco的董事们也很欣赏保拉的坦率，当被问及为什么想出任Safeco的CEO时，保拉回答说有三大原因：一是公司大，二是行业不同，而三就是离丈夫工作的地方近。
2005年12月7日，Safeco宣布保拉出任公司CEO一职。现在，她正在适应新工作、新公司、新行业、新城市，以及新的居住环境。她还没有把亚特兰大的房子卖掉，因为她正在读大学的儿子周末要住。2006年1月3日，保拉正式上班前，她和父亲搬进了史蒂夫在郊外的小别墅。
既然和丈夫生活在同一个屋檐下，保拉也需要调整自己的节奏。虽然她父亲请了个兼职保姆，不过所有的家务都是保拉做的，包括做饭、买菜、购物等等。
保拉繁忙的工作日程也扰乱了史蒂夫为她安排的情人节惊喜。史蒂夫请当地一位歌手代表他到Safeco总部为保拉唱首情歌，但歌手迟到了，保拉正在开一个重要的会议。“歌手还没张嘴唱，我就只好请他离开，”保拉说道。
然而，这点小挫折不能阻挠他俩相亲相爱。保拉到Safeco工作后，“我是最大的赢家，”史蒂夫高兴地说。保拉对此表示同意，说最近他们创造了一项婚后连续生活在一起的纪录。不过，如果今后的工作机会又要让他们两地分居，那怎么办呢？“我们随时都有这种心理准备，”保拉回答道。
