Fall and recovery

The Red Chamber, by Pauline Chen, perhaps wasn't an entirely random choice for Gutierrez. The book is a retelling of The Dream of the Red Chamber, the classic 18th-century Chinese novel by Cao Xueqin about the rise and fall of a wealthy family in a fictional ancient dynasty.

The novel draws some parallels to Gutierrez's own family story, which began in Havana. He was born into a wealthy family in the Cuban capital. His father was the owner of a pineapple plantation, providing the family with a comfortable life until 1959 when Fidel Castro took power in Cuba's communist revolution and began seizing private businesses such as that of Gutierrez's father.

The family soon fled for Miami, as did so many Cuban exiles then and for decades to come. The 6-year-old Gutierrez came to the US as a refugee, he recalls.

Soon after that, the young Gutierrez embarked on a nomadic life, first moving with his family on his father's jobs in the US and then Mexico, and later on his own career starting from a young sales trainee at the multinational food-processing giant Kellogg Co in Mexico.

The pain of loss inspired Gutierrez to work hard, which probably explains his grasp of the Chinese people's ability to endure hard times and emerge stronger. To an extent, that resonates with his own life experience.

During his nearly 30 years at Kellogg, Gutierrez worked his way up - from sales trainee who drove a truck to deliver Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes) in Mexico City - to the executive suite and the company's top job.

In 1999, at age 45, Gutierrez became the youngest CEO in Kellogg's nearly 100-year history.

Today, after making his name as one of the most successful leaders in the business world, the former official is humble, gentle and polite. "When you are with him, you get a feeling of his strength - but it's very quiet strength," a former Kellogg colleague told the Detroit News.

Amid limited media coverage of Gutierrez himself, in 2004 just months before he moved on to the Commerce post, Fortune magazine published a story headlined "The Man Who Fixed Kellogg", praising Gutierrez's ability to manage turnarounds and make Kellogg an innovative, profit-driven company.

Mission continues

Now back to the private sector with Citigroup, he visits China more than ever-four or five times a year, he says.

On his visits, the vice-chairman meets with Chinese CEOs from State-owned enterprises and private companies and gives them all kinds of advice about their investments in the US, from corporate banking services to mergers and acquisitions.

In his capacity with Citigroup, Gutierrez enjoys meeting "sophisticated and impressive" Chinese CEOs whom he regards as "one of China's great strengths".

"Their knowledge of strategy - what they want to do and what they don't - and knowledge of technology, and the way they have managed their business, is all remarkable."

For Gutierrez, the mission to learn about and comprehend China continues.

"I never cease to be impressed by what I see in China," he says.