Ambroise Roux (26 June 1921 – 4 April 1999) was a French businessman and political advisor. He was the chief executive officer of Compagnie générale d'électricité (later known as
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
) from 1970 to 1981. He was the founding president of the
French Association of Private Enterprises
The French Association of Private Enterprises (, AFEP) is a French non-profit organization founded in 1982. It is widely viewed as the main lobby group for large private-sector French companies.
History
The AFEP was founded in December 1982 by ...
(AFEP). On his death, President
Jacques Chirac called him "one of the great figures of French capitalism."
Early life
Ambroise Roux was born on 26 June 1921 in
Piscop, France.
His father, André Roux,
was a manager in the newspaper industry. His mother, Cécile Marcilhacy,
was related to the founders of
Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999 it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions a ...
, a pharmaceutical company now known as
Sanofi
Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...
.
Roux graduated from the
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he was a student at the
École des ponts ParisTech
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
and
Supélec
École supérieure d'électricité, commonly known as Supélec (), was a French graduate school of engineering. It was one of the most prestigious grande écoles in France in the field of electrical engineering, energy and information sciences. ...
.
Career
Shortly after the war, Roux worked for his maternal family company, Rhône-Poulenc.
In 1951, he began working as an advisor to the Minister of Industry and Commerce,
Jean-Marie Louvel
Jean-Marie Louvel (1 July 1900 – 13 June 1970) was a French engineer and politician.
1900 births
1970 deaths
People from Orne
Politicians from Normandy
Popular Republican Movement politicians
French Ministers of Commerce and I ...
.
In 1955, he was hired by the Compagnie générale d'électricité.
He succeeded his former boss Louvel as its president and chief executive in 1970.
During his tenure, he built a private lift for himself and he banned female employees from wearing trousers.
He became the highest paid CEO in France.
He resigned in 1981, when
François Mitterrand became president and nationalized the Compagnie générale d'électricité, which was renamed
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
.
Roux served as the vice president of the
Conseil national du patronat français and the president of the Commission économique de la Nation, a subcommittee 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 ...
.
As such, he became a political advisor to President
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...
.
He criticized
Yvon Gattaz
Yvon Gattaz (born 17 June 1925) is a French businessman. He is the co-founder of Radiall, an electronics manufacturer. He was President of the Conseil national du patronat français, the main pro-business organization in France, from 1981 to 198 ...
, the president of the Conseil national du patronat français, for not pushing back against Mitterrand's socialist policies.
In 1982, he became the founding president of the
French Association of Private Enterprises
The French Association of Private Enterprises (, AFEP) is a French non-profit organization founded in 1982. It is widely viewed as the main lobby group for large private-sector French companies.
History
The AFEP was founded in December 1982 by ...
(AFEP).
The organization, open to business executives, met at the
Hôtel de Crillon
Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel () is a historic luxury hotel in Paris which opened in 1909 in a building dating to 1758. Located at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, the Crillon, along with the Hôtel de la Marine, is one of two identical s ...
to discuss economic policies.
In this capacity, he held meetings with President Mitterrand to suggest pro-business policies, but never let the public know whether he was successful or not.
In 1993-1995, he encouraged Prime Minister
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, c ...
to take on a pro-business approach as well, and he continued to do so during the presidency of Jacques Chirac in 1995-2007.
He was also an early mentor to
François Pinault
François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis.
Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in ...
, the chairman and CEO of
Kering
Kering () is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent.
The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963, by ...
who went on to become a billionaire.
Over the course of his career, he served on 57 corporate boards,
including
Barclays.
Personal life and death
Roux married Françoise Marion in 1946.
They had a son, Christian, and a daughter, Véronique.
They resided in
Montfort-l'Amaury
Montfort-l'Amaury () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region, north central France. It is located north of Rambouillet. The name comes from Amaury I de Montfort, the first ''seigneur'' (lord) of Montfort.
Geogra ...
and summered in
Trégastel
Trégastel (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of the region of Brittany in northwestern France.
Trégastel is situated between Perros-Guirec and Pleumeur-Bodou. Lannion is 10 kilometres away.
Population
Inhabitants of Trégas ...
, Brittany.
He was
royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
.
![Tombe Ambroise Roux](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Tombe_Ambroise_Roux.JPG)
Roux died of a heart attack on 4 April 1999 in Montfort-l'Amaury.
He was 77.
He was buried in Trégastel. On his death, President
Jacques Chirac called him "one of the great figures of French capitalism."
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roux, Ambroise
1921 births
1999 deaths
People from Val-d'Oise
People from Yvelines
People from Côtes-d'Armor
École Polytechnique alumni
École des Ponts ParisTech alumni
Supélec alumni
French chief executives
French corporate directors
Businesspeople from Brittany