Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman of L'Oréal and a graduate of HEC Paris, has just been unanimously appointed Chairman of HEC Paris at an extraordinary board meeting. Agon succeeds Jean-Paul Vermès, whose term in office has come to an end after six years.
Jean-Paul Agon, who graduated from the Grande Ecole in 1978, has spent his entire career at L'Oréal in Europe, Asia and the United States, taking up the position of Chief Executive Officer in 2006, and Chairman 2011. In addition to his current role as Chairman of L'Oréal’s Board of Directors, Jean-Paul Agon is Lead Director at Air Liquide, a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists, and a director of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri). Thanks to this remarkable career, Agon is considered a person of reference in the world of business both in France and on the international stage.
Since leaving the Grande Ecole, Jean-Paul Agon has been involved with HEC Paris on a professional level – through his roles at L'Oréal – and on a personal level as a major donor. Since 2006, he has been heavily promoting HEC Paris’s equal opportunities and social diversity policy. In 2019, he created his own Sheltered Foundation, pledging one million euros to support this cause that is so important to him. Agon joined the board of directors of the HEC Foundation in September 2021.
Jean-Paul Agon’s appointment has been greeted with great pride and enthusiasm by the school’s Dean and CEO, Eloïc Peyrache: “Jean-Paul Agon is both a visionary leader and a man who is heavily committed to equal opportunities and promoting French excellence worldwide. His new role at HEC Paris represents an outstanding opportunity at a time when the core mission and goal of our school is to have a positive impact on the world.” Peyrache also adds: “I would like to thank Jean-Paul Vermès for the commitment he has shown on a daily basis, and for the trust and unfailing support he has given Peter Todd and myself over all these years. Jean-Paul has been a formidable Chairman and servant of HEC Paris.”
Jean-Paul Agon stated for his part: "I am deeply honored and truly privileged to have been chosen as Chairman of HEC Paris, a school which holds a special place in my heart. This appointment marks a new stage in my commitment. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to draw on my experience and beliefs in order to contribute to the excellence of this global champion of education and research. Embarking on this adventure now is all the more important as business schools are at a turning point: education models are being reinvented and both environmental and social expectations are higher than ever. I am thrilled to commit, alongside Eloïc Peyrache and his team, to their ambitious transformation of the School, to prepare its future and amplify its impact and contribution to tomorrow’s world”.