Former Director General of Eurostar France, Mikaël Lemarchand is now the SNCF Group's CSR Director
After studying at ESSEC, Mikaël Lemarchand began his professional life in Germany, at Elf Aquitaine in Berlin, from 1997 to 1999. He then participated in the creation of an internet start-up in Hamburg, with the financing of Apax Venture, aiming to offer independent labels a platform for the promotion and distribution of their catalogs. From this experience, which was prematurely cut short by the bursting of the internet bubble at the end of the 1990s, Mikaël has learned two major lessons: the importance of pragmatism in delivering short-term results and the importance of cash flow to keep the machine running.
In 2000, Mikaël Lemarchand returned to France to join the strategy consulting firm Arthur D. Little and its Telecoms / Information / Media / Entertainment practice. He worked in particular for a telecom operator, a new entrant in a market that was historically a monopoly and whose opening to competition was accelerated by the emergence of mobile technology. This led him to join the SNCF Group to draw up the strategic plan for SNCF Grandes Lignes, and to anticipate the opening of the TGV market to competition. This work led to the creation of iDTGV, which later became Ouigo.
In 2003, Mikaël Lemarchand took over responsibility for marketing and pricing at SNCF Grandes Lignes, before being appointed Chief of Staff to Guillaume Pepy, the Group’s Executive Director at the time, in 2005. At the end of 2008, Mikaël became the Director of Rail Development for Keolis in Europe, which led him to negotiate the extension of a rail franchise in Great Britain with the British Ministry of Transport. In 2012, he joined the Eurostar Executive Committee as Station Director and Managing Director for France.
From 2017 to 2019, he was a member of the Transilien management committee, in charge of service, distribution, digital, control and security, as part of a €12 billion contract over 4 years.
At the end of 2019, the new Chairman Jean-Pierre Farandou will put him in charge of the company’s project, with the aim of redefining the SNCF Group’s strategy and creating a dynamic to get all employees on board with this new project, which has been quickly dubbed “Tous SNCF”. As part of this project, the decision was taken to place CSR at the heart of the strategy, which led Mikaël Lemarchand to take over the head of a CSR department merged with the corporate project department and to join the Group’s Executive Committee in October 2020. Today, Mikaël Lemarchand’s priority is to continue the transformation of the SNCF Group around modern governance and management, with CSR and the new raison d’être as the keystone.
Mikaël Lemarchand likes to forge links between different worlds, cultures and disciplines. He has a real passion for words and languages. He speaks French, English, German and Italian.
His favourite themes are leadership, systemic change, sustainable development, raison d’être, the evolution of the role and responsibility of companies in order to achieve the economic, ecological, and social transition.
Spoken Languages: French, English, German, Italian
