JCDecaux: Now Sans JC

Founder Jean-Claude Decaux, the 75-year-old head of JCDecaux will step into a new role as honorary chairman to the company he founded, while his youngest son and granddaughter join the executive and non-executive boards respectively.

JC Decaux

Jean-Claude Decaux told the Annual General Meeting he wanted to see the involvement of a third generation in this publicly-listed family-run company, which he founded in 1964 (and took public in 2001). His two elder sons, Jean-François and Jean-Charles, are joint chief executives of JCDecaux.

The youngest of Decaux's three sons, Jean-Sébastien Decaux, will join the executive board, subject to approval at the company’s AGM in May.

Aged 36, Jean-Sébastien has worked for JCDecaux since 1998 and is managing director for Southern Europe and Africa-Israel, as well as running the Belgian and Luxemburg subsidiaries.

Jean-Claude's granddaughter Alexia Decaux-Lefort, the eldest daughter of Jean-François, will join the non-executive board.

The 27-year-old is a graduate of the University of Warwick and she has been watch product manager at Piaget, part of luxury goods company Richemont International SA, since April 2012.

In other board-level changes, Gérard Degonse, the managing director of JCDecaux Holding, will replace Jean-Claude as non-executive chairman. Michel Bleitrach, the vice-chairman of Séchilienne Sidec, a French company producing biomass and solar energy, will also join the non-executive board.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting, Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux, said:

“Mr. Jean-Claude Decaux has informed us of his decision not to renew his mandate, taking the opportunity to reaffirm that JCDecaux SA, which has been listed on the markets since 2001, has always been a family business and his desire to see it passed on to the third generation that will continue to invest in its future.

I believe that I speak on behalf of everyone in expressing our admiration and gratitude to Mr. Jean-Claude Decaux who, having invented the concept of street furniture advertising, first founded our Group in 1964.

Driven by his unique vision for towns and cities, he has devoted close to 50 years to improving and transforming the day-to-day lives of millions of people through the design and development of a range of street furniture that combines public services with aesthetics and functionality, and provides a powerful medium for advertisers.”

The Supervisory Board finally appointed Mr. Jean-François Decaux as Chairman of the Executive Board and Mr. Jean-Charles Decaux as Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux SA for a term of one year.

For commercial and public representation purposes, Mr. Jean-François Decaux and Mr. Jean-Charles Decaux use the title of Co-Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux.

Key Figures for the Group

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