Benoît Potier: Air Liquide Chairman & CEO

Frenchman Benoît Potier was born in 1957 and is a graduate of the prestigious École Centrale de Paris. In 1981 he joined Air Liquide as a Research  and Development engineer.  He became a Project Manager in the Engineering and Construction Division. Benoît was later named Vice-President of Energy and Development in the Large Industries business line. 

He continued his climb up the corporate ladder and was made Director of Strategy & Organization in 1993. The following year we became head  of the Chemicals, Metal & Steel,  Oil and Energy Markets.  In 1995 Air Liquide appointed him an Executive Vice-President with additional responsibilities over the Engineering & Construction Division and the Large Industries operations in Europe. 

In 1997 Benoît was named Senior Executive Vice-President  and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2000. In November 2001 he became Chairman of the Management Board. 

Benoît reached the position the only a select few will every achieve, he was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of L’Air Liquide SA in 2006. 

With more than 50,000 employees and over $20 billion in sales, Air Liquide SA is on of the largest publicly listed companies in the world. The company Benoît heads is headquartered in Paris, France and was founded on November 8, 1902, by George Claude and Paul Delorme. 

It supplies gases, technologies and services for the industry and health businesses. Air Liquide SA operates its business through three segments: Gas & Services, Engineering & Construction and Other Activities. 

The Gas & Services segment engages in the supply of gases, which is organized by geographical areas such as Europe, America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East and Africa. The Engineering & Construction segment designs, develops and builds industrial gas production plants for the Group and third parties. It also designs and manufactures plants in the traditional, renewable and alternative energy sectors. The Other Activities segment primarily operates its business through two businesses: Welding and Diving. 

Emmanuel Faber: Danone CEO

Emmanuel Faber was born on January 22, 1964, and graduated from the prestigious French educational institution, HEC. Emmanuel then embarked in his professional career and began working as a consultant at Bain & Co., later he joined Baring Brothers. 

He joined Legris Industries in 1993, as Chief Administrative and Financial Officer and was promoted in 1996 as Chief Executive Officer. In 1997, Emmanuel joined Danone as Head of Finance, Strategies and Information Systems. IN 2000, he was named a member of the Executive Committee. While Danone was strengthening its management structure in the Asia-Pacific region, Emmanuel was appointed Vice-President for the Asia-Pacific region in charge of the Group’s operational activities. 

Since January 1, 2008, he has been a Deputy General Manager of Danone, responsible for major corporate functions (Finance, Human Resource, etc.) Emmanuel was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors on April 28, 2011. He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Danone Ecosystem Fund since 2008. Emmanuel has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Livelihoods Fund since December 2011. 

His position came about after the change in Danone’s governance wherein the Chairman and the CEO functions were separated with the Chairman’s duties strengthened. Emmanuel became the CEO effective October 1, 2014.

Danone is a French food processing company that has around 99,927 employees and sales in excess of $20 billion. It operates through the following divisions: French  Dairy Products, Waters, Early life Nutrition, and Medical Nutrition. 

The Dairy Fresh Products division produces and markets yogurts, fermented fresh dairy products, and other specialized fresh daily products. The Waters division is made of the natural waters business along with aqua drinks. The Early Life Nutrition division focuses on specialized foods for babies and young children to complement breast-feeding while always complying with the World Health Organization Code and local laws. It manufactures infant formula, cereal snacks, biscuits and other food products for infants. 

The Medical Nutrition division focuses mainly on people receiving medical treatment, babies afflicted with certain illnesses and frail elderly  people. The Division’s products are designed primarily to treat disease-related to malnutrition by satisfying special food needs. 

Pierre-André de Chalendar: Saint-Gobain CEO

Pierre-André de Chalendar was born on April 12, 1958, in Vichy, France. He went to the country’s top schools graduating in 1979 from ESSEC business school and the École National d’Administration (ENA) in 1983. 

Pierre started his career at the General Inspection of Finance (IGF) in 1983. He was appointed Financial Inspector in 1984, Project Manager from 1987 to 1988 and Deputy Director from 1988 to 1989 in the General Directorate for Energy and Raw Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Energy. 

He joined Saint-Gobain on October 1, 1989, as Vice-President for Corporate Planning and held that position until 1992. He was then appointed Corporate Vice-President of Saint-Gobain Corp. (USA) and Managing Director of Norton Abrasives Europe from 1992 to 1996. Pierre then became President of the global Abrasives Division and Chairman and CEO of Norton SA from 1996 until 2000. From 2000 to 2003, he was General Delegate for the United Kingdom and Ireland and Chief Executive of Meyer International. 

After further promotions he became Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain in 2007. Pierre became Chairman and CEO on June 3, 2010. 

Laurent Mignon: Natixis CEO

Laurent Mignon was born on December 28, 1963. He is a graduate of the elite French Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) business school as well as the Stanford Executive Program.  Laurent worked at Banque Indosuez for more than 10 years in a number of positions including on the trading floor to corporate banking. 

He joined Schroeders Bank in London in 1996 then the following year joined AGF as Chief Financial Officer. In 1998 he was  appointed to the Executive Committee, then became Deputy CEO in charge of Banque AGF, AGF Asset Management and AGF Immobilier in 2002. Luarent was promoted to CEO in charge of the Life and Financial Services and Credit Insurance divisions in 2003 and Chairman of the Executive Committee in 2006. Laurent was associate Manager at Oddo et Cie alongside Philippe Oddo from September 2007 to May 2009. 

Laurent was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Natixis on May 14, 2009, and became a member of BPCE’S Management Board on August 6, 2013. 

In November 2006 the asset management and investment banking operations of Natexis Banque Populaire (Banque Populaire group) and IXIS (Groupe Caisse d’Epargne) merged to form Natixis, a French corporate and investment bank. 

Over 70 percent of Natixis is owned by Groupe BPCE and the remaining stake is listed in the Paris Stock Exchange. As it stands Natixis is the corporate, investment, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. 

The firm provides customized solutions to meet the specific needs of companies, financial institutions and institutional investors. It also designs products and services tailored to the client base of Groupe BPCE’s two retail networks. Natixis has three  core businesses with complementary expertise namely: Wholesale Banking (Coverage & Advisory, Financing & Market Solutions; Investment Solutions (Asset Management, Private Banking) & Insurance; and Specialized Financial Services. 

Natixis is present mainly in three geographic zones: The Americas, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa). 

Jean-Pascal Tricoire: Schneider Electric CEO

Jean-Pascal Tricoire grew up in rural France in the 1970s. He took up engineering at Angers, and later earned an MBA from what is now EMLyon. What is interesting about Jean is he would eventually lead a multibillion multinational company but did not go through one of the grandes école courses, the traditional programs of France’s elite executives. 

He began his career at Alcatel, the telecommunications firm in 1985. Then Jean joined Schlumberger, the management consultancy firm before moving on to construction firm, St. Gobain. Then he joined electric company Merlin Gerin, which was later acquired by Schneider Electric. Starting 1988, Jean spent most of his time working abroad at Schneider’s international operations. He spent five years in Italy, five years in China, and a year in South Africa. 

Upon returning to France in 1999, he was named as head of the company’s global strategic accounts and of the Schneider 2000+ programs. Jean between January 2002 and 2003 was the executive president of the Schneider’s international division. In October 2003 he was promoted to COO. Jean was named CEO and Chairman of the Board in May 2006. 

Coming from a rural background, Jean loves to travel to see different places. While his job allows him to travel he believes that he only sees 20 percent of the country while on the job. To know more about the other 80 percent one has to go out of his way to see the country by going around on a personal trip. 

In line with his interest of seeing other places, Jean is also leading Schneider, one of Europe’s largest engineering groups, to do more business outside of France, and outside of Europe. More emphasis has been placed on emerging markets. In fact Jean relocated to Hong Kong in 2011, to emphasize the point that they had to do business in other parts of the world. In the process he became the first CEO of a major publicly listed French company to move out of France. 

Sidney Toledano: Christian Dior CEO

Sidney Toledano was born on July 25, 1951, in Casablanca, Morocco. His father Boris Toledano, was a former president of the Jewish Community of Casablanca. Sidney holds an engineering degree from the Ecole Centrale of Paris. He also holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics. 

Sidney worked as a Marketing Consultant at Nielsen International then in 1982 joined Kickers as General Secretary. In 1984 he moved to Lancel were he was named Managing Director. Supervising product development he dramatically increased the sales of Lancel. 

Before long it was time for Sidney to take on another challenge and this time it was at Christian Dior Couture Fashion House. He joined the company in March 1994 as Director of the Leather Goods Division. In 1995, he launched the “Lady Dior” bag bringing worldwide success to the brand.  The following year Sidney was promoted to Managing Director in charge of international development. 

He became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Christian Dior Couture in 1998. During his tenure at Christian Dior he relaunched Dior Monsieur as Dior Homme, appointing Creative Director Hedi Slimane in 2001. Sidney developed Dior’s Haute Joaillerie and Fine Jewellery divisions, appointing Victoire de Castellane as Creative Director of Dior Fine Jewellery in 1998, and opening dedicated jeweller stores in New York and Paris in 1998 and 1999 respectively. 

Sidney is admired for his straight-talking charm and focused determination, which has allowed him to have productive relationships with Dior’s designers and guiding the company through tough times following their departures. 

As stated in the Business of Fashion magazine, he moving words at the 2011 A/W Christian Dior RTW show, just days after former Dior designer John Galliano was filmed making anti-Semitic remarks, showed the Sidney’s approachable manner and the pride he takes in all of his employees. 

He has led over a period of exponential expansion of Christian Dior; more than 200 international location have been opened during his time at the house.  

Pascal Soriot: AstraZeneca CEO

Pascal Soriot was born in France on May 23,1959. He holds a doctor of veterinary medicine from École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Maisons-Alfort. Pascal later earned an MBA from HEC, Paris. 

He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1986, joining Roussel Uclaf. This was previously the second largest pharmaceutical company in France until 1997 when it was purchased by Hoechst AG. Pascal joined the company as a salesman and was stationed in Australia. He was promoted in 1996 to General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, then in April 1997 moved to Tokyo, Japan. 

Pascal joined Aventis in America in 2000. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Aventis USA in 2002. The company became Sanofi Aventis USA in 2004. Next he moved to Roche in 2006. Pascal became the Chief Executive of Roche subsidiary Genentech from April 2009 to 2010. After which he rejoined Roche Pharma AG as Chief Operating Officer. Pascal held this position until September 2012. 

He was named as the new Chief Executive of AstraZeneca, the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical company on August 28, 2012. He took up the position on October 1, 2012, he was also elected Director the same year. 

Pascal took over the company when it was in bad shape. Profits fell 31 percent between the second and third quarters of 2012. One of the main reasons for the decline was the expiration of a number of its pharmaceutical patents, including Crestor (a treatment for cholesterol) and Nexium (a heartburn remedy) and there was no new products to replace them. For a number of years AstraZeneca had failed to invest in R&D and this was something that Pascal needed to immediately address. 

He had to take the painful step of lower the workforce by around 2,300 employees who were  mostly in the production lines. He relocated the company’s headquarters to its R&D hub in Cambridge while shutting down another R&D facility. Pascal focused on R&D as well. 

By April 2014, AstraZeneca was healthy enough to refuse a €87 billion takeover bid from Pfizer. 

Jean-Paul Agon: L’Oréal Chairman & CEO

Jean-Paul Agon was born on July 6, 1956, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. After completing his studies at the HEC International Business School in 1978 he joined L’Oréal and never left. Jean-Paul started his career as a product manager for the Consumer Product division in France. He was appointed General Manager of L’Oréal Greece in 1981 and is credited with laying a solid business foundation of the company there. 

Jean-Paul returned to France in 1985 as General Manger of L’Oréal Paris. In this capacity he supervised a number of important launches and successes such as Studio Line, Plénitude and Elsève. He was appointed International Director for Biotherm in 1989. Jean-Paul remodeled the brand and gave it international appeal. He became Managing Director of L’Oréal Germany in 1994 and played a central role in dealing with problems related to the slowdown in the growth of the European markets at that time. 

After a number of more key assignments Jean-Paul was rewarded with the post of CEO of L’Oréal in 2006. The chairmanship position was added in February 2011. 

Guillaume Pepy: SNCF Chairman

Guilluame Pepy was born on May 26, 1958 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He attended the Ecole alsacienne high school in Paris. Pepy is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Science Po) and a former alumnus of ENA.

SNCF stands for Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francias, the state-owned rail service of France.  He first joined SNCF in 1988 as Chief of Staff to then Chairman, Jacques Fournier. Pepy then had stints in different ministerial private offices from 1990 to 1993. He came back as Head of Investment, Economy and Strategy.

Pepy was put in charge in 1997 of Mainline Services. He became Deputy Chief Executive Officer with responsibility for all passenger activities (TER regional, Transilien Greater Paris suburban services, mainline services, rolling stock and operations) in 1998. Pepy introduced an innovative low fares policy designed to boost train occupancy utilizing “yield management” flexible pricing techniques. He was also the moving force behind the establishment of Voyage-sncf.com, of which he was Chairman from 1998 to 2006, and of iDTGV.

The President of France appointed him to run the state-owned business on February 27, 2008. As such Pepy is actually a high-ranking civil servant. He has a very challenging job. The challenges include deregulation, a “green” policy, and militant rail unions. The French President Sarkozy also instructed him to greatly increase capital expenditure while revenues were collapsing.  It’s reported in the 72 year of the existence of SNCF, Pepy has the most difficult job of any of its chief executives.

It not an easy task to take on a job when the flagship service of SNCF, TGV had slumping revenue aside from the lower revenues in freight. It obviously involves cutting cost while at the same time having the President of France telling you to increase spending.

Pepy immediately began to work launching the restructuring of SNCF Group in 2008 with three aims: position SNCF to outperform rivals; be an industrial champion, proud of the group’s success and know-how; be the leading public service company in everyday life in France, with plans for a European presence.

Having clear goals to work on despite the difficulties is a characteristic of a capable leader. 

Antoine Frérot: Veolia Environnement

Antoine Frérot was born on June 3, 1958 in Fontainebleau, France.  He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1977 and engineer at the Ponts et Chaussées corps. Antoine earned a doctorate degree from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

He started his career in 1981 as an engineering researcher at the Central Research Office for French Overseas Departments and Territories. Antoine joined the Center of Study and Research of the École nationale des ponts and chaussées as project manager in 1983. He became assistant director from 1984 to 1988.

Antoine took a change in career course in 1988 joining Crédit National placed in charge of its financial operations. He then became an official representative at Compagnie Générale de Eaux in 1990. Five years later Antoine became CEO of CGEA Transport. He was appointed CEO of CONNEX in 2000. This is the transport division of Vivendi Environnement. He also joined the executive committee of Vivendi.

Antoine transferred to Veolia Environnement in 2003 as a Senior Executive Vice President and CEO of its water division Veolia Eau. He was eventually promoted to CEO of Veolia in November 2009 and in December 2010 also became the Chairman.

Veolia Environnement is one of leading environmental services companies in the world. It offers customized solutions in three complementary business areas: water management, waste management and energy management. Revenue was at €29 billion in 2012.

Despite the size of the company it has huge problems that Antoine has been addressing like the forced writedown of €800 million in 2011. This was due to problems in its businesses in Italy, the US and Morocco.  Antoine made a decision in December 2011 to pull out of half the countries the company was doing business in and start selling off €5 billion in assets.  His former mentor and former CEO was against this decision.  The former CEO used his seat in the board to try to oust Antoine which Antoine successfully fended off while strengthening his own position.

Business challenges and internal squabbles all part of the territory in which Antoine operates in. He is still continuing to lower the company debt and improve operations. 

Christopher A. Viehbacher: Sanofi CEO

Christopher A. Viehbacher was born on March 26, 1960.  He holds German and Canadian nationalities. Christopher graduated from Queens University (Ontario – Canada). A certified public accountant he speaks French, German and English.

Christopher began his career in finance at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He then joined GlaxoSmitKline (GSK) in 1988. During the next 20 years with GSK he gained wide international experience in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. His last position at GSK before joining Sanofi was President, Pharmaceutical Operations North America. Christopher was also a member of the board and Co – Chairman of the Portfolio Management Board.

In December 2008 he became CEO of Sanofi and has since held the position. Christopher is a Board member and is also a member of the Strategy Committee. In February 2011, Sanofi acquired Genzyme of which he is also the Chairman.

Christopher was awarded a knight of the French Legion of Honor in 2003 for his commitment to public health and business. For his leadership role within the pharmaceutical industry he was awarded the prestigious 2012 Pasteur Foundation Award.

With headquarters in Paris, France Sanofi is a global healthcare leader with 110,000 employees, with net sales of €34. 95 billion in 2012. 

Michel Savart: Fonciere Euris Big Boss

Schools can serve as good indicators if a person is on the way to the path of success. It’s no guarantee but it can’t be denied that some of the world’s top executives and entrepreneurs have come from the world’s top notch academic institutions.

Michel Savart carries on the reputation of top schools producing future top executives. He graduated from highly-regarded Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris. Michel started his career in 1986 with Havas. The following year he worked with Banque Louis Dreyfus and then Banque Arjil in 1988. After having been with three different financial institutions in as many years he stayed a bit longer at Banque Arjil leading various projects and advised the bank’s management board as well.  Michel moved over to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (DKB) in 1995 where he served as Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. He stayed with DKB until 1999.

In October 1999 he joined Euris-Rallye group as Director and Advisor to the Chairman, responsible for private equity investment.  Less than ten years later on August 2009 Michel was appointed CEO of Fonciere Euris. The following year on May 2010 he also took on the role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Michel’s strong financial background helped him land this job. French firm Fonciere Euris has holdings in real estate and private equity investment. As CEO one of his priorities has been streamlining the business which has been partially achieved by selling assets.  Michel made the decision in October 2012 to sell Fonciere Euris’ stake in the Manufaktura mall in Poland along with Rallye which also sold its investment in the project. The sale was worth €310 million and the proceeds split three ways between Fonciere Euris, Rally and Apsys.

Michel’s stature and experience in the industry has proven invaluable so much so that when Jacques Ehrmann stepped down as Chairman and CEO of real estate firm Mercialys, Michel became the interim chairman of the board of directors in September 2012.

A graduate of well-known academic institutions in France, Michel is proof that these schools do produce outstanding executive who later lead multibillion dollar companies. 

Xavier Huillard: Keeping His Principles

Xavier Huillard was born in June 1954. He came from a family of builders and continued the tradition of previous generations. Xavier went to the top schools in France graduating from the École Polytechnique and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussée.

He started his career as a civil servant beginning at a local public works and planning department then later transferred to the Ministry for Infrastructure’s international business department.  Xavier eventually joined Sogea in December 1996 as Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of international activities and specific projects. He was appointed Chairman and CEO in 1998.

Xavier then joined VINCI in March 1998 and was Chairman of VINCI Construction from 2000 to 2002. He was promoted Co-Chief Operating Officer of VINCI and Chairman and CEO of VINCI Energies from 2002 to 2004, the Chairman of VINCI Energies from 2004 to 2005.Xavier was promoted to a number of  positions until he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of VINCI in May 2010.

In what you usually don’t hear of in the corporate world Xavier openly criticized his predecessor and then VINCI Chairman Antoine Zacharias for personal luxurious excesses which led to the previous chairman’s resignation. It showed Xavier’s sticking to his principles even though he had worked closely with Zacharias for over a decade.

VINCI, a French company, is a global force in concessions and construction having close to 193,000 employees working in 100 countries.

Gilles Benoist: Outstanding French Executive

A good business executive can come out of any country. France has its share of outstanding executives. One of them is Gilles Benoist.

Gilles was born on December 12, 1946. He has a law degree and is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politques de Paris and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

After graduating from ENA he followed the path taken by many successful business executives; cut their teeth in the government sector then join the private sector. Gilles would take on key jobs during his stint with the government. From 1974 to 1981, he was the Director of the Cabinet for the Prefect of Oise, Secretary General of Ariége and Director of Cabinet of the General Director of Local Communities at the Ministry of the Interior. Gilles interest turned more in the direction of economics and finance after 1981.

He was appointed Head of Cabinet of the Ministry of Economics and Finance and the Referendum Advisor to the Court of Accounts in 1983. Gilles was Secretary General of Local Credit of France in 1987 and Advisor to the General Director Deputy of Cash Deposits before becoming its Director of Central Services.

From 1993 to July 1998, Gilles was General Secretary, a member of the Executive Committee and Director of Human Resources for the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. This company has a subsidiary CNP Assurance S.A. which was formed in 1959 and continues to own around 40 percent of CNP.

Gilles was Chairman of the Management Board of CNP Assurances from 1998 and CEO and Director from July 2007 to June 2012. Under his leadership CNP increased revenue by 80 percent. He began the international expansion of the insurance company in 1999 by entering Portugal.

CNP had premium income of €3.2 billion in 2010. It has 24 million policy holders. CNP does business in three main segments of the personal insurance market - life insurance, pensions and personal risks.

After doing an outstanding job at CNP Gilles is currently Corporate Director of Suez Environnement Company and is on the board of other companies as well.

 

Philippe Varin: Tackling Extraordinary Difficulties

Philippe Varin is the Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën the French car giant. He has held this position since June 2009. It can’t be said that many people envy him. He took over the position from the previous chairman whose contract was terminated. As was mentioned by Thierry Peugeot, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, the automotive industry was experiencing extraordinary difficulties. To help them tackle the very serious problem they turned to Philippe.

Philippe did not come from the ranks of PSA. He came from Corus where he was the Chief Executive. He joined Corus as Chief Executive in April 2003. Philippe was quickly able to turn around the problematic and money-losing Anglo-Dutch steel firm.  He then successfully led the merger of Corus with Tata Steel in March 2007. Philippe was requested to stay on with the enterprise so that a successful integration could be completed.  The PSA Supervisory Board has been hoping Philippe can come up with the same kind of accomplishments at PSA.

Philippe graduated from the top notch French schools Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines. He then joined the company Pechiney in 1978. Philippe rose through the ranks and became a high level executive before eventually joining Corus.

PSA proves a big challenge for Philippe. He has instituted strategic changes such as having two distinct and differentiated brands.  He is also banking on the success of PSA’s alliance with General Motors.

Philippe has currently set up a much leaner management team. The Executive Committee now comprises four members of the Managing Board and nine Executive Vice Presidents reporting to the Chairman of the Managing Board.

There is still much work to do for Philippe and his team. Moody’s Investors Service recently cut PSA’s credit rating one step to four levels below investment grade. The downgrade was due to the contraction in Europe’s care market which puts at risk the car company’s plans to restore cash flow.

The board of directors still has a lot of faith in Philippe he has taken on an enormous challenge and they can only hope that he succeeds.

Failures No Obstacle To Success

One should not let failures get in the way of success. Failures are part of life and if anything we should learn valuable lessons from them so we can do better in the future.  Failures should inspire us to try harder. One person had early failures but it did not stop him from eventually heading one of the largest banks in the world.

Jean-Paul Chifflet was born in 1949, in Tourn-sur-Rhône, Adréche, France. He spent his childhood growing up in a farm. Chifflet early on could not be said to be academically gifted.  In fact he failed his Baccalauréat not once, but twice. Fortunately he passed it the third time.  Now this could discourage many people about their prospects in life but not Chifflet. He went on to graduate from the Institut des Haustes Finances de Paris and prior to his banking career played ruby union for FC Tournon-Tain.

He joined Crédit Agricole du Sud-Est Regional Bank as the head of sales promotion in 1973 and moved up the ranks. Chifflet became corporate secretary of Crédit Agricole de la Drôme Regional Bank in 1980 and became corporate secretary of Crédit Agricole du Sud-Est Regional Bank in 1986. He was appointed head of development and credit at Crédit Agricole du Sud-Est Regional Bank in 1990.

Chifflet moved to different units with increasing responsibilities over the years. He finally got the top post in March 2010 when he became Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole S.A.

Many outside of France or Europe may not be aware of the structure of Crédit Agricole S.A. It has subsidiaries specializing in all area of finance, serving the Regional Banks (where it has 25 percent ownerships) and its banking networks in France and abroad. This bank is listed on Euronext Paris.

The Regional Banks of Crédit Agricole are cooperative entities and fully-pledged banks. There are 2,531 Local Banks that form the foundation of Crédit Agricole. These Local Banks in turn own most of the capital of the Regional Banks. The local banks have more than 6.2 million members who appoint 32,227 directors.

Crédit Agricole boasts of being the number one bancassurance in France and being the number two in asset management in Europe. It has 150,000 employees worldwide. The firm has €71 billion shareholder’s equity (group share). 

Chifflet leads this very large organization and his early failures were no obstacles.

Having What It Takes

Hendri de La Croix de Castries belongs to the French establishment. He is a member of the House of Castries. His father, Comte Francois de La Croix de Castries was in the military having served in Korea, Indochina and Algeria. Comte Pierre de Chevigne, his maternal grandfather was a colonel in the Free French forces.  A family member was also a naval minister under Louis XVI and another General Charles de Gaulle’s wartime ambassador to the U.S.

Henri was born on August 15, 1954 in Bayonne, France. He attended the best schools such as Ecole de Hautes Eludes Commerciales (HEC), the leading business school in France and Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) which has produced many government leaders.  

Henri began his career auditing government agencies while working in the French Ministry Inspection Office from 1980 to 1984. Then in 1984 he moved to the French Treasury Department where in 1986 he played an active role in the privatization of some government companies and was later appointed to head exchange markets and balance of payments for the Treasury.

He made his moved to the private sector in 1989 joining the Corporate Finance Division of AXA.  Henri became the Corporate Secretary in 1991. He was in charge of the legal aspects of the reorganization and merger of Compagnie du Midi into the AXA Group.  After two years Henri became Senior Executive Vice President for AXA’s asset management, financial and real-estate businesses.

He was given the additional responsibility of overseeing UK and North American operations in 1994. Henri’s roles and responsibilities within AXA continued to increase in importance. He played an important role in the preparation of the merger with UAP and in managing the integration of the two entities.  The following year he became Chairman of the Equitable Companies. This later became AXA Financial.

Henri became Chairman of the AXA Management Board on May 2000 until April 2010. Due to some changes in the corporate government structure he became the Chairman and CEO of AXA since April 2010 and currently holds these positions.

It can be said Henri had more advantages than most people due to his family ties. Yet he has made the most of what he’s got and proved that he has what it takes to run one of the largest insurance companies in the world.