David Azéma (born 22 November 1960) is a French businessman, and a former chairman and chief executive of

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

from 1999 to 2002; he worked with the French government's

Agence des participations de l'État ''Agence des participations de l'État'' (APE, literally "State Participations Agency"), created in 2004 under the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is the French agency responsible for managing the State's shareholdings in companies of strateg ...

, and is chairman of Global Infrastructure Group at

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

.Le Monde 2014
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Early life

He was born and brought up in Paris. His parents were both university professors. In his teenage years he thought about becoming a film director. He attended

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more th ...

in Paris. From the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

he gained a degree in law. He later studied Politics at

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

. He then trained at the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

(ENA) in Strasbourg, leaving in 1987.

Career

In 1993 he joined the economics department of SNCF.

Eurostar

He joined Eurostar in March 1999. He became chairman of Eurostar in October 1999, aged 38. The company had been restructured. Eurostar had 31 trains, each costing £24m; they could run on three different electrical power systems and four different signalling systems. At the time, Eurostar had 65% of the London-Paris market. He resigned from Eurostar Group on 12 June 2002. He was replaced on 4 July 2002 by the current Eurostar chairman

Guillaume Pepy Guillaume Pepy (born 26 May 1958) is a high-ranking French civil servant who currently serves as president of the SNCF, the French national rail authority. He is also Chairman of Eurostar and Deputy-Chairman of the Keolis Group. President Nicol ...

, who in 2008 became Chief Executive of SNCF.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azéma, David 1960 births Living people People from Neuilly-sur-Seine Lycée Henri-IV alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni French businesspeople French rail transport chief executives Judges of the Court of Audit (France)