Thierry Jacquillat (2 July 1938 in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

- 11 January 2010 in

Anzère Anzère is a small village in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, located in the municipality of Ayent and close to Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name a ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) was a French businessman who dedicated most of his career to the global wine and spirits group

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

Biography

He graduated from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, after having studied at

Cours Hattemer Cours Hattemer is a French private, secular school. It is independent of the state, and can follow its own teaching approach, which is structured and places great stress on repetition to drive home what has been learned. The school has many well-kn ...

and

Lycée Carnot The Lycée Carnot is a Public school (government funded), public secondary school, secondary and higher education school at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the XVIIe arrondissement, 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. The Lycée Carnot was founded in ...

Pernod Ricard

At the age of 25, he was taken on board the family-run

Pernod Fils Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

through Jean Hémard, who at the time was President of the brand. Jacquillat started out as a management assistant, then becoming administrative director and finally secretary general. Placed in charge of the merger with the

Ricard Ricard is a surname, as well as a Catalan name. Notable people with the surname include: *Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard (1771–1843), French general under Napoleon *Hámilton Ricard (born 1974), Colombian footballer *Jean-François Ricard (born ...

group in 1974, he contributed to the creation of

consequent to which he became 'Directeur General' (CEO) from 1977 to 2000, then Director and Vice President until 2004. Jacquillat helped transform a French family-run business with 1,100 employees into one of the top world leaders in

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s and spirits, with nearly 15,000 employees and a presence in nearly 100 countries. At the time of his departure in 2004, he had additionally seen the company grow by over 5 billion euros in market capitalisation, and become the second wine and spirits company globally with the acquisition of Allied Domecq and brands such as

Mumm G. H. Mumm & Cie is a Champagne house founded in 1827 and based in Reims, France. G.H. Mumm is one of the largest Champagne houses and is currently ranked 4th globally based on number of bottles sold. The company is owned by Pernod Ricard. G. ...

Perrier-Jouët Perrier-Jouët () is a Champagne producer based in the Épernay region of Champagne. The house was founded in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose Adélaide Jouët, and produces both vintage and non-vintage '' cuvee'', approximately 3,000,000 ...

Ballantine's Ballantine's is a range of Blended Scotch whiskies produced by Pernod Ricard in Dumbarton, Scotland. The Ballantine's flavour is dependent on fingerprint malts from Miltonduff and Glenburgie, blended with 50 single malts and four single gra ...

, Malibu and Beefeater.

Nonprofits

In April 2002, Jacquillat was elected Chairman of the Greater Paris Investment Agency (also known as the ''Paris-île de France Capital Economique),'' a non-profit organisation dedicated to attracting investors to the

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

region, working directly with the likes of

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

. He also acted as the Vice President of the

Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry The Paris Chamber of Commerce (french: Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris or ''CCIP'') is a chamber of commerce of the Paris region. It defends the interests of companies of the city of Paris, and provides services to these companies. S ...

until December 2004, being in charge of relations with large companies. Returning to his holiday home in

, Switzerland, in 2008, Jacquillat founded and presided the ''Festival des Musique des Montagnes du Monde (MMM Festival)''. This festival aimed to unite music from different cultures and traditions, bringing light to the underlying wealth of cultural differences around music originating from mountains around the world.

Death

Thierry Jacquillat died, aged 71, on 11 January 2010.

Personal life

Jacquillat married Marie-Annick Waldruche de Montrémy in 1963, with which he had four children. In 2005, after retiring, Jacquillat published a book called ''Fais vite, ne traîne pas en route,'' an autobiography recounting his adventures within the Pernod Ricard Group in great detail: it shows how Jacquillat managed to globalise the company in a span of forty years. An aficionado of the arts, Thierry Jacquillat became president of the prestigious Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris-Alfred Cortot following the passing of his predecessor. He was made a Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur, an Officier of l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and has a Military Cross as officer in the

French navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

References