Arnaud Alexis Michel Kohler (born 16 November 1972) is a French senior official and special adviser. A former director of the cabinet of

Pierre Moscovici Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to ...

, then of

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

at the Ministry of Finance, he was appointed secretary general of the

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of France, President of the French Republic in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed g ...

on 14 May 2017.

Early life and education

Born in 1972 in Strasbourg, Alexis Kohler is the son of Charles Kohler, a senior European official, and Sola Hakim, a lawyer. He grew up in Strasbourg. Kohler attended the

Institut d'études politiques de Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales Founded in 1907, ESSEC Business School (École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales) is a French higher education institution specialising in business and management. It is a grande école, a type of institution known for select ...

, and the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

Career

Career in the public sector

Kohler began his career at the

Direction générale du Trésor Direction may refer to: *Body relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction *Bearing (navigation) Mathema ...

of the

French Ministry for the Economy and Finance The Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (, pronounced ), informally referred to as Bercy, is one of the most important ministries in the Government of France. Its minister is one of the most prominent cabinet me ...

, then he was detached to various organisations, including the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

, then the

Agence des participations de l'État ''Agence des participations de l'État'' (, APE, ), created in 2004 under the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is the French agency responsible for managing the State's shareholdings in companies of strategic importance. As of 2022, APE has ...

. Following

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

's election, Kohler became deputy director of

's cabinet, Minister of the Economy and Finance. In August 2014, he became the director of

's cabinet at

Bercy Bercy () is a neighbourhood in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France, the city's 47th administrative neighbourhood. History Some of the oldest vestiges of human occupation in Paris were found on the territory of Bercy, dating from the late N ...

(where the Ministry of finance is located).

Career in the private sector

When Macron resigned in 2016 to establish En marche !, Kohler returned to a position in the private sector as chief financial officer of

MSC Cruises MSC Cruises () is a Swiss-Italian global cruise line based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1988 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). In addition to being the wor ...

. At the request of his employer, he settled in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

and then Geneva, but continued to work remotely for Macron by mail and

WhatsApp WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...

loops. When the 2017

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

started, he was a central figure in the headquarters of En marche !

Secretary General, 2017–present

Kohler was appointed general secretary of the Élysée on 14 May 2017 and prepared the passage of relay with the outgoing general secretary,

Jean-Pierre Jouyet Jean-Pierre Jouyet (born 13 February 1954) is a French civil servant who served as Minister of State, attached to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, responsible for European Affairs in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon ...

. He is close to

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

, whom Emmanuel Macron didn't know much when he appointed him Prime Minister. In 2022, anti-graft group Anticor filed a complaint accusing Kohler of breaking conflict-of-interest rules after it emerged he had family links to the Italian owners of MSC Cruises. He was subsequently indicted by the national financial crimes prosecutor PNF.

Return to the private sector

In 2025, ''

L'Opinion ''L'Opinion'' is a daily francophone Moroccan newspaper. It is considered the official paper of the Istiqlal Party. History and profile ''L'Opinion'' was established in 1965. The daily is the organ of the conservative and monarchist Istiqla ...

'' reported that Kohler would be joining

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...

as head of retail banking.Mathieu Rosemain and Geert De Clercq (24 February 2025)
Macron's chief of staff to join French bank Societe Generale, L'Opinion reports
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

External links

''Alexis Kohler, le jumeau de l'ombre du président Macron''
on ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' (15 July 2017)
''Alexis Kohler, l'intransigeant de l'Élysée''
on ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'' (30 July 2017)
''Alexis Kohler secrétaire général de l'Elysée''
on Boursier.com
''Alexis Kohler, le plus proche collaborateur''
on '' Les Échos'' (14 May 2017)
''Macron a déjà choisi son bras droit pour l'Élysée''
on l'Alsace.fr (7 May 2017)
''Passation de pouvoir : qui est Alexis Kohler?''
on ''

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

'' (14 May 2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohler, Alexis 1972 births Living people Politicians from Strasbourg Renaissance (French political party) politicians French people of German descent ESSEC Business School alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni