The supervisory board of Keolis, a 70% subsidiary of SNCF, decided on Tuesday to appoint Marie-Ange Debon as head of the public transport operator, according to a company statement.
Read also: The boss of Keolis, former number two of the SNCF, is dismissed
Former head of Thomson and Suez, Marie-Ange Debon, 55, will replace as chairman of the management board Patrick Jeantet, dismissed from his post in June due to "significant strategic differences" with the supervisory board. Appointed unanimously, “she is a committed manager, keen to combine development and financial discipline. She will bring to Keolis her public and private experience, both in France and internationally, ” explains Joël Lebreton, Chairman of the Board, in the press release.
France 3, Technicolor, Suez
Until March 2020, Marie-Ange Debon was deputy general manager of the environmental services giant Suez, which she joined in 2008. Her name had circulated to take over the general management in 2019, but she had not not been selected. Previously, she had spent ten years with the Thomson group, which became Technicolor, after having been Deputy Managing Director of France 3 for four years. A graduate of HEC and ENA, she also worked for a few years as a magistrate at the Court of Auditors.
Patrick Jeantet, who had been appointed in February, will have remained barely a few months at the head of Keolis who did not explain the reasons for his dismissal. According to sources interviewed by AFP, he wanted to promote external growth, when the supervisory board preferred to stick to the “Perfeco” program aimed at consolidating what already exists while strengthening economic performance. In addition, "there has never been a real constructive dialogue with the supervisory board" , it was added.
A difficult year 2020
Keolis, owned by SNCF (70%) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (30%), achieved in 2019 a turnover of almost 6.6 billion euros - out of 35 billion for the whole from SNCF -, of which 53% abroad. But the year ended with a net loss of 72 million euros in 2019, weighed down by the decision to exit the direct services sector to the public (in particular from the loss-making operator of VTC LeCab), by restructuring at United States and by losses in Germany. The year 2020 promises to be particularly delicate, with the coronavirus crisis having seriously affected the coffers of transport operators.
Present in sixteen countries, Keolis presents itself as the world leader in automatic metro and tramways, operating the networks of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, but also the rail network of Wales, the Hyderabad metro (India), or even the world's largest tram network in Melbourne.
