Jacques Gounon

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, 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 France and the United Kingdom, operates the LeShuttle railway service, and earns revenu ...

Early life

Gounon is a former pupil of

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 comp ...

group's service activities. From 1993 to 1995, Gounton was an industrial advisor to

Michel Giraud Michel Giraud (14 July 1929 – 27 October 2011) was a French politician. He was notably Minister of Labor, deputy of Val-de-Marne, President of the Regional council of Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the ...

's cabinet, then from 1995 to 1996, he became director of cabinet for

Anne-Marie Idrac Anne-Marie Idrac (born 27 July 1951 in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor) is a French politician of the Nouveau Centre political party who served as Minister of State for Foreign Trade in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon from 2008 to ...

. In 1996 he also became deputy managing director of GEC-Alstom. In 2001, he piloted the LMBO operated on

Cegelec Cegelec or Actemium 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 wa ...

by Alstom. In 2004, Gounon joined the Eurotunnel Council. On 14 June 2005 he became CEO of TNU. On 9 March 2007 he was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of GET SA. The

Eurotunnel Group Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom, operates the LeShuttle railway service, and earns reven ...

returned to profits in 2008. He is recognised as the man who straightened the accounts of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

. 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 Officers of the Legion of Honour Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{France-business-bio-stub