Alexis Kohler, full name Arnaud Alexis Michel Kohler, (born 16 November 1972,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

) is a French special adviser, senior official, and politician. Énarque, former director of 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 2 ...

then of

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

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

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (french: Palais de l'Élysée; ) is the official residence of the President of the French Republic. Completed in 1722, it was built for nobleman and army officer Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, who had been appointed Gover ...

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's education was quite classical:

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

ESSEC The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

class 1993,

ENA Ena or ENA may refer to: Education * École nationale d'administration, French Grande école, for civil service * Education Networks of America, Internet service provider Fictional characters * Ena Sharples, from the British soap opera ''Coron ...

( class Averroès (1998-2000), like

Fleur Pellerin Fleur Pellerin (; Birth name, née Kim Jong-sook, born 29 August 1973) is a French businesswoman, former civil servant and Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party politician who served as a Government of France, French government minister from ...

Nicolas Kazadi Nicolas Kazadi (born January 7, 1966) is a Congolese politician and career diplomat who has been Ambassador-at-large for the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 7 March 2019 and Minister of Finance since 12 April 2021. He is a member of the ...

and

Audrey Azoulay Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French civil servant and politician who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017, becoming the second female le ...

Career

Career in the public sector

Kohler began his career at the

Direction générale du Trésor The Direction générale du Trésor (DG Trésor, English language, English: ''Directorate General of the Treasury'', or ''French Treasury'') is the flagship Directorate General of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (France), French Ministry o ...

of the

French Ministry for the Economy and Finance The Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (french: Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique, pronounced ), informally referred to as Bercy, is one of the most impor ...

, then he was detached to various organisms, including the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

, then the

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 ...

. 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. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

's election, he 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, 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 Neolithic ...

(where the Ministry of finance is located).

Career in the private sector

When Emmanuel Macron resigned in 2016 to establish En marche !, Kohler returned to a position in the private sector as chief financial officer of MSC Cruises, the world's second largest ocean freight company. At the request of his employer, he settled in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

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

WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...

loops. When the 2017 présidential campaign 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. He is close to

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as 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 2020 under President ...

, 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.Benoit Van Overstraeten, Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose (3 October 2022)
Macron's chief of staff indicted over link to shipping giant MSC
''

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

''.

Personal life

On 22 November 2003 Kohler married Sylvie Schirm with whom he had three children.

References

External links

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

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

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

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' (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 La République En Marche! politicians French people of German descent ESSEC Business School alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni