Appointments
Benoît Bazin, Chief Financial Officer of the Group, is appointed Vice President of the Building Distribution Sector
Laurent Guillot, General Delegate to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, is appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Group
Jean-Claude Breffort, Senior Vice President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, in charge of Human Resources and International Development, is appointed, in addition to his current duties, General Delegate to Brazil, Argentina and Chile
Biographical details:
Benoît BAZIN
Born in December 1968, Benoît Bazin is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées engineering school. He also holds a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States) and an Advanced degree in Economics from IEP Paris. He began his career in 1995 with the Economy and Finance Ministry, as rapporteur to the Interministerial Committee on Industrial Restructuring, before moving to the Treasury Department where he was responsible for State investments in the aeronautics, electronics and defense industries. He joined Saint-Gobain in 1999 as Corporate Planning Director for the Abrasives Branch, going on to become Corporate Planning Director for Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in September of the following year. In 2002, he was appointed President of the North-American Abrasives business and Head of the Bonded Abrasives business unit. He has been Chief Financial Officer of the Group since May 2005.
Laurent GUILLOT
Born in September 1969, Laurent Guillot is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées engineering school. He also holds a post-graduate degree in macro-economics from Université Paris I. He began his career in 1996 with the Finance Ministry, initially as head of the Energy unit in the Forecasting Department, then as head of the Central Africa unit within the Treasury Department's International Division. In 1999, he was appointed technical advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, first on maritime issues and then on budgetary, financial and industrial issues. He joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in June 2002 as Corporate Planning Director. He was appointed Director of the Abrasives Construction Products business in 2004, and Director, High-Performance Refractories and Director, Diesel Particulate Filters in 2005. Since January 2007, he has been General Delegate to Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Jean-Claude BREFFORT
Born in July 1948, Jean-Claude Breffort is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Montpellier business school. He began his career with Saint-Gobain, joining the Group in 1971 as Export Sales Manager in the Glassware unit of the Packaging sector. In 1976, he was appointed Financial Controller of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and in 1981 he became Finance Director of the Insulation Division's German subsidiary. In 1983, he was named Operations Director for the Insulation Division. He became General Delegate for Scandinavia in 1986 and for Brazil and Argentina in 1993, before moving to his current position of Senior Vice President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, in charge of Human Resources and International Development in April 2004.
These appointments follow the departure of Philippe Crouzet who has been appointed Chairman of the Management Board of Vallourec.