Jacques Gounon, born 25 April 1953, is a French senior civil servant and business manager who currently serves as president of
Getlink
Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue ...
.
Early life
Gounon is a former pupil of
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and chief engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées.
Career
From 1977 to 1981, Gounon was head of the major works district at the Departmental Direction of Equipment of
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.[Eiffage
Eiffage S.A. is a French civil engineering construction company. it was the third largest company of its type in France, and the fifth largest in Europe.
History
The company was formed in 1992 through the merger of several long standing com ...]
group's service activities.
From 1993 to 1995, Gounton was an industrial advisor to
Michel Giraud's cabinet, then from 1995 to 1996, he became director of cabinet for
Anne-Marie Idrac. In 1996 he also became deputy managing director of
GEC-Alstom. In 2001, he piloted the LMBO operated on
Cegelec
Cegelec is a French engineering company specialized in electrical infrastructure, HVAC, information technology, nuclear energy development, transport infrastructure, robotics and offering both public and private services. Cegelec was officiall ...
by Alstom.
In 2004, Gounon joined the Eurotunnel Council. On June 14, 2005, he became CEO of TNU. On March 9, 2007, he was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GET SA. The
Eurotunnel Group returned to profits in 2008. He is recognised as the man who straightened the accounts of the
Channel Tunnel. From 2007, he launched a new commercial policy and applied the principle of differential pricing, already widely used by airlines. Faced with the return of profits, he launched an investment campaign to increase infrastructure on both sides of the tunnel.
In 2019, Jacques Gounon celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Channel Tunnel and welcomed more than 500 institutional visitors to answer their questions about the Brexit preparations made by Eurotunnel. In July 2020, he became Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Prizes and awards
*"Revelation of the year" by the BFM Awards (November 2009).
Bibliography
*
References
1953 births
Living people
École Polytechnique alumni
Corps des ponts
French chief executives
People from Créteil
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
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