Jacques Gounon, 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 England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue ...

Early life

Gounon is a former pupil of

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 ...

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 ...

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 The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...

where he took care of the reinforcement and reconstruction of the Wilson bridge in Tours which partially collapsed in 1978. From 1981 to 1986, Gounon was chief engineer, then deputy director general of the inter-municipal household waste treatment union (Syctom) of the City of Paris. From 1986 to 1990, Jacques Gounon was CEO of the Comatec group. From 1991 to 1993, Jacques Gounon was director of development for the

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 com ...

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 (, ; literally "Isle of France") is t ...

'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 French Minister of State for foreign trade. Early life and education Idrac is an alumna of the Insti ...

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

Cegelec Cegelec 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 was officially ...

by Alstom. In 2004, Gounon joined the Eurotunnel Council. On June 14, 2005, he became CEO of TNU. On March 9, 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 England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue o ...

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

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

. 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 Officiers of the Légion d'honneur {{France-business-bio-stub