Axel Dumas (born 3 July 1970) is a French billionaire heir and business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Hermès Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, sinc ...

, and a sixth-generation member of the Hermès-Dumas family.

Early life

Axel Dumas was born on 3 July 1970 in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

near Paris. His ancestor five times removed,

Thierry Hermès Thierry Hermès (10 January 1801 – 10 January 1878) was a French businessman who founded Hermès International and acquired the title as a fashion house designer. He was born in 1801 in Krefeld, Germany. Hermès originally established his busin ...

, was a German French immigrant who founded Hermès in 1837. His paternal uncle,

Jean-Louis Dumas Jean-Louis Robert Frédéric Dumas (2 February 1938 – 1 May 2010) was a French billionaire businessman who was the chairman of the Hermès group from 1978 to 2006. He was also the company's artistic director. Dumas is credited with turning Herm ...

, was the CEO of Hermès. His father, Olivier Dumas, is a physician and the author of many articles about

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...

. His mother died in 2003. His cousin, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, is Hermes's artistic director. He is a sixth-generation member of the Hermès-Dumas family. Dumas earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

and a master of Laws. He graduated from

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university'' Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

, and he attended an executive program at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

Career

Dumas was an investment banker for Paribas in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, China from 1995 to 1997, in Paris from 1997 to 1999, and in New York City from 1999 to 2003. Dumas joined Hermès as an auditor in 2003. He became the CEO of its jewellery division in 2006, and the CEO of its leather goods division in 2008. He was appointed as chief operating officer and joint CEO of the company alongside Patrick Thomas in June 2012, and he succeeded Thomas as CEO in February 2014.

Personal life

Dumas is married to

Elisabeth Franck Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

, a journalist for ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France' ...

''. With his family, Dumas is an heir to a 30 billion Euro fortune, making them France's third richest family as of 2017.

References

Living people 1970 births People from Neuilly-sur-Seine French people of German descent Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Sciences Po alumni Harvard Business School alumni French chief executives Hermès-Dumas family {{France-business-bio-stub