Speakers

Didier Pineau-Valencienne

Didier Pineau-Valencienne has unrivalled management and industrial experience. As CEO, he turned around entire divisions of industrial groups (such as Rhône-Poulenc, Resogil, Carbonisation et Charbons Actifs) before joining the Schneider Group. As Schneider’s CEO from 1981 to 1998, he was a prime mover behind the group’s turnaround. Under his leadership, shareholders earned an annual IRR of 23%, the stock price was multiplied by 35 and market capitalization rose to €10 billion. Pineau-Valencienne is a graduate from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, the Amos Tuck School (Dartmouth College) and the Harvard Business School. He was Chairman of the CNPF’s Labor Relations Commission in 1997, and of the AFEP from 1999 to 2001. Directorships: Lagardère SA, Pernod Ricard, Fleury Michon, HMY, Group.

Jacques Menard

L. Jacques Ménard is chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of the country’s leading investment firms. He is also president of BMO Financial Group, Quebec. As such, he oversees the activities of BMO Bank of Montreal and its subsidiaries, and its more than 170 branches and 5,000 employees in Quebec. Mr. Ménard is currently a director at the Montreal Heart Institute, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Alouettes, and a director at Claridge Inc. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Corporate Directors (Quebec chapter) and a board associate of Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc., and sits on the International Advisory Board of HEC Montréal, the Advisory Board of Glendon College at York University and the Board of Directors of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation. He published his first book in 2008, Si on s’y mettait… and is one of the four recipients of the annual Public Policy Forum Testimonial Awards in 2009. Mr. Ménard is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario (MBA 1970), Loyola College of Montréal (B.Comm. hon. econ. 1967) and College Ste-Marie (BA 1966), and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. More bio here.

Philippe Camus

He began his career in 1972 in the Finance Department of the Caisse des Dépots et Consignations. In 1992, he joined the Lagardère Group and served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Banque Arjil until 1993. He was appointed Managing Director of the Lagardère Group in 1993 and has been co-managing partner of Lagardère SCA since 1998. His expertise in international negotiations and management, led him to conduct and oversee the work bringing about the creation of EADS, the 2nd largest aerospace company worldwide. First named Chief Operating Officer, then Chief Executive Officer of Aérospatiale – Matra in 1999, he was Chief Executive Officer of EADS from 2000 until 2005. Philippe Camus was a member of the French supervisory authority for the financial markets from 1996 to 2001. He is a board member of the Institut d’Expertise et de Prospective of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and was President of GIFAS from 2001 to 2005. He has been director of Crédit Agricole since 2005, of Accor since 2006 and of Schlumberger since 2007. Read a longer bio here.

Christophe Guilhou

From 1992 to 1993, Guilhou was appointed to the department of African Affairs as desk officer, speechwriter, writer in charge of Nigeria, Cameroon and Benin. In 1993, he worked at the department of the United Nations and International Organizations in charge of health and narcotics issues. Two years later, in 1995, he joined the Embassy of France in United Arab Emirates as First secretary. In 1999, he was appointed first counselor at the France Embassy in Syria. In 2002, he returned to Paris where he was appointed Diplomatic Advisor to the Health Minister, Professor Jean-François Mattéi. He returned to the Minister of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Director in charge of the economic affairs in the United Nations and International Organizations Department in 2004. In 2005, he was appointed Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Michel Barnier, in charge of North Africa, Middle East and United Nations affairs. In 2006, he was confirmed in this post by the new incoming Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Philippe Douste-Blazy. From 2006 to 2009, he served as deputy permanent representative as the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in Geneva. Guilhou graduated from “Sciences Po Paris” and the “Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales” (Arabic). He is married and father of three children.

Philippe Leroy

Philippe Leroy is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s New York transaction advisory services practice. He has close to 15 years of public accounting experience, of which approximately seven years have been dedicated solely to providing both buy-side M&A financial due diligence advice to both private equity and strategic buyer clients. Prior to joining Ernst & Young in New York, Philippe spent four years with Andersen in Paris and two years in New York working on audits of international groups.

Philippe has worked on close to 60 transactions, including large complex multinational transactions for large corporations as well as private equity buyers. His transaction experience history includes key roles serving cross border transactions (specifically with French client or targets). Such role involved managing large and multi-disciplinary teams located in multiple countries. Philippe has developed a broad range of industry experience, including sectors such as media and entertainment (internet, TV channel), technology (software), servicing and commercial businesses (airlines, retail, promotional goods) and manufacturing (packaging, automotive) businesses. Philippe is a US Certified Public Accountant and holds a Master in Finance of Paris-Dauphine University.

Eric Gaudet

Mineiro Duarte

Mineiro Duarte joined BCG in 1998 in Lisbon, worked extensively in Madrid and later was a member of the Paris office. Since 2009 he is a member of the London office. Before joining BCG, he was a General Manager of a small family-run business producing recreations of ancient scientific instruments. During the MBA summer internship, he spent three months detailing the US market entry for the largest European manufacturer of pace makers. He was also a professional horse rider for six years, as "equitador" in the national Academy "Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre", in Portugal. His native language is Portuguese, he is fluent in French, English and Spanish and he is proficient in Italian. Duarte Mineiro holds a degree in Industrial Management and Engineering from 'Instituto Superior Técnico – Lisbon Technical University' (1998) and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth (2003).

Len Jardine

Len is a Managing Director in Institutional Relationship Management responsible for delivering all of BNP’s Capital Markets capabilities to major institutional money managers in the US. Len has almost 25 years of Capital Markets experience in a variety of capacities in Trading, Sales, Syndicate, and Research. He has been at BNP Paribas for eight years, and most recently was responsible for the Fixed Income Credit Sales effort at BNP (six years), and was also a senior member of the Credit trading team for two years involved primarily in crossover and distressed debt.

Prior to joining BNP, Len was a principal at Stanton Capital for five years (a small Emerging Markets Private Equity fund in New York). He was also involved in the early development stages of the credit trading businesses at UBS (3 years) and Deutsche Bank (2 years) where he was a manager on both the Primary and Secondary trading desks. Len started his career at Merrill Lynch where he was a Corporate Bond and MTN trader for seven years. Len received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business, and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Jean-Francois Rouvière

Francois Ducroux

Within his practice, Francois Ducroux and his team offer customized financial planning. The solutions for his clients are holistic and incorporate all corners of their lives. This dynamic approach is also found in wealth management and the allocation of assets. Francois’ disciplined investment style was developed over a decade while working at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. It consists of proactive and reactive strategies so clients can build and preserve their wealth.

On top of the complexities that wealth brings, Francois’ clients often have a global lifestyle. The necessity for flexibility and institutional quality service are the reasons he recently joined Winslow, Evans & Crocker, a Boston-based investment firm. Developing a process that relies on first class execution, proactive thinking, integrity, and experienced individuals is what Francois brings to the table. Francois is on the board of the French-American Chamber of Commerce, New-England where he chairs the Business Development committee. He is also an ongoing mentor to underprivileged youth in the Boston area.

Pierre Simard

Pierre Simard co-founded Champlain Capital Partners (CCP) in the U.S. in 2001 and founded Champlain Financial Corporation (CFC) in 2004. He currently sits on the investment committee of CCP. He brings six years of principal investment experience in the SME market in Canada and the U.S., having lead 15 investments representing over $100 million of equity capital. Prior to co-founding CCP and founding CFC, he had over ten years of experience in investment banking and commercial banking with Lazard Frères & Co., Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, and CIBC, where he originated, structured and executed more than 40 advisory assignments including high yield and equity financings, management buyouts, and mergers and acquisitions. Simard currently sits on the Board of Directors of Genivar Income Fund (TSX: GNV-UN), Les Produits Neptune Inc., Orthofab Inc. and Le Marché Végétarien Inc. He earned his B.S. from Laval University (Chemical Engineering), a graduate degree in Applied Economics from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and his MBA from Cornell University.

Jean-Stéphane Yansouni

Jean-Stéphane Yansouni joined Champlain Financial Corporation in 2005 with four years of management consulting experience with McKinsey & Company and six years of audit and corporate finance experience with Ernst & Young LLP. He advised clients on topics ranging from mergers & acquisitions and corporate organization to operational improvements, sales stimulation and strategic planning. Yansouni also lead a variety of audit, business process analysis and corporate finance projects He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Pro Hockey Life Sporting Goods Inc. and Le Marché Végétarien Inc. Yansouni earned his BComm/Graduate Diploma in Accountancy at Concordia University, and his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He is member of the Canadian Order of Chartered Accountants.

Elie Simon

Elie Simon, Chairman of the Board of TheBigSpace, the Inventor of the Magic Mirror, and Chairman and Co-founder of Digiprice, which is building the Social Net Shopping concept. Formerly President & C.E.O. of TAGSYS, the global leader of RFID item-tagging infrastructure. Delivering against the vision of the e-connecting goods company, Tagsys introduced the R.A.S. concept in this industry, to enable the unmet 6sigma level read-rate achievement.

Prior to Tagsys, as President of Sun Microsystems' EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) region, Elie Simon was responsible for the management and strategic focus of the business across the region. In this role, Mr Simon was responsible for approximately 35% of Sun's global revenue. Mr Simon took over the role of VP for EMEA in July 2002. From 1998 - 2002 he was the Vice President of Sun's SEAME region. As VP of SEAME, Elie Simon was responsible for all international field operations in Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Elie Simon was also the Managing Director of the Mediterranean region, responsible for managing the rapid growth of Sun's emerging markets. From 1992 to 1998, Elie Simon developed Sun's presence in the Mediterranean region, establishing a sales, engineering and marketing distribution system across the region. Mr Simon grew the Mediterranean region 12 hold in revenue over a five year period, establishing sales offices in Israel, Portugal, Turkey and Greece. During his career at Sun, Elie Simon has won numerous awards, including the title of "Manager of the Year" four times, was runner-up for The Tech-Tour European Entrepreneur of the year and won the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year trophy at Tagsys.

Mr Simon officiates on several academic, community and industry boards. He holds a Master degree in Electrical Engineering from ESIEE, Paris, and an MBA in Business Administration from IAE Bordeaux and graduated at Colchester University. He is fluent in French and English. Elie Simon is married with three children. In his spare time, Elie is a competitive horse-rider.

Alex Lejeune

Alex joined the Operations Team of Cerberus Capital Management in 2005. Alex joined Cerberus from Micro Warehouse, a distressed $2 billion direct reseller of computers that filed for Chapter 11 in 2003. Retained by Alix Partners and CSFB post-filing, he managed all aspects of Micro Warehouse’s bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings. Previously, Alex was a consultant at McKinsey & Co., serving clients in the media and hi-tech industries. Prior to McKinsey, Alex was a consultant at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting. Alex started his career with Schneider Electric, a Paris-based global manufacturer of electrical equipment, where he was a project leader in the areas of financial reporting and strategic planning. Alex earned his MBA from Tuck School (Dartmouth) and his BA from EdHEC in France.

Jean-Jacques Louis

Jean-Jacques Louis is a Vice-President at NASDAQ OMX, heading a Corporate Strategy team comprised of 6 people located in New York and Stockholm. The Corporate Strategy team supports NASDAQ OMX senior executive team in all strategic corporate investments (Merger & Acquisitions, Joint-Ventures and other business combinations) as well as provides strategic research and analysis for NASDAQ OMX business expansion and growth. He has joined NASDAQ OMX in 2004 to develop the Corporate Strategy function under the leadership of Adena Friedman, Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President at NASDAQ OMX.

Jean-Jacques has been a financial professional in the capital markets and investment banking industries since 1992. Prior to NASDAQ OMX, he was an M&A banker with UBS Investment bank in New York, NY in its Financial Institutions Group. In this role, Jean-Jacques advised and executed a number of US and international transactions in the financial institutions, financial technology and broker-dealer industries. He started his career with Viel Tradition where he spent 6 years and led the development of the short-term interest rate derivatives desk (interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements, swaptions, cap/floor, etc…). Headquartered in Paris, Viel Tradition is one the largest interbank dealers in the world.

Jean-Jacques received a Master of Science in Management from the Reims School of Management at Reims, France and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business in Hanover, NH. Born and raised in Paris, France, Jean-Jacques lives now in Ridgewood, NJ with his wife, Emmanuelle and their three sons: Maxime, Hugo and Baptiste.

Monique Giroult