French group Keolis, which is 70 per cent owned by SNCF and 30 per cent by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), has had a major shake-up and has dismissed its executive chairman, who has only been in the job for four months.
Keolis’ two shareholders asked the chairman of the Supervisory Board to convene an exceptional meeting on Tuesday 2 June 2020 to deliberate on the dismissal of Chairman of the Executive Board, Patrick Jeantet, who took office on 1 February 2020.
After the meeting, the Supervisory Board confirmed the termination of all of Patrick Jeantet’s mandates, saying it had noted “significant strategic differences” with the executive chairman.
A recruitment process will be initiated without delay to appoint a new chairperson of the Executive Board. In the meantime, the Supervisory Board has decided to entrust the management of Keolis to a specially constituted Executive Board, whose interim chairperson will be Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke, group executive director finance and legal, that will include the following members of the Executive Committee:
– Frédéric Baverez, group executive director France and CEO of Effia
– Bruno Danet, group executive director human resources and organisation
– Bernard Tabary, group executive director international
Both SNCF and CDPQ have reaffirmed their commitment to the Keolis Group, its customers and employees.
