Francois Pérol: The Fast Track

Some talents are screened out early on even before they start their careers. It usually begins by going to schools known for producing top executives.

This is the path Francois Pérol took. He went to the right schools which set him up for good government positions and eventually business executive positions. It’s not a guaranteed path; you have to compete and many talents go to the same schools but only a few get to go as high as Francois.

He graduated from the HEC School of Management and the Paris Institute of Political Science. Francois was also a student at the Ecole National d’Administration (ENA), the school for high-flying civil servants.  He started his career as an auditor in the General Inspectorate of Finance in 1990.

Over the years he would rise in the government bureaucracy. Francois was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Interdepartmental Commission for Industrial Restructuring (CIRI) in 1994. He moved to the French Treasury Department in 1996 as the head of the Financial Markets Office.

As Francois rose in rank his exposures also increased in the international scene when he was the Secretary General of the Paris Club, responsible for international negotiations with debtor countries. This was from 1999 to 2001. Other significant positions Francois has held include being deputy Chief of Staff to Francis Mer, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry in the French Government from 2001 to 2004.

Like many star civil servants Francois also became involved in the private sector when in 2005 he became a General Partner of the investment bank Rothschild & Cie. He went back to government when he was appointed deputy Secretary General at the Presidency of the French Republic, in charge of economic issues in May 2007.

Francois served as Chairman of the Management Board of Caisse National des Caisses d’Epargne (CNCE) and CEO of Banque Fédérales des Banques Populaires (BFBP) and on in August 2009 became Chairman of the Management Board of BPCE, the product of the merger between CNCE and BFBP.

Groupe BPCE is the second largest banking group in France with 117,000 employees meeting the needs of 36 million customers of which 8.6 million are cooperative share holders. A huge financial institution which is led be someone with deep experience and exceptional talent.