Jean-Bernard Lévy

Jean-Bernard Lévy (born 18 March 1955) is a French businessman, and the CEO and chairman of EDF.

Early life

Born on 18 March 1955, the son of a doctor, he attended the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine. After being advised by his teachers that he was so bright, he would need to advance a year, his parents sent him to England for a year to learn English, at St Martin's preparatory school in Northwood, Middlesex. He then studied at the École polytechnique, and from 1973 the Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications.

Career

Lévy started his career as an engineer at France Telecom in 1979, in Angers. In 1982, he joined the Directorate General of Telecommunications within the PTT France, responsible for the management of senior staff and budgets, then promoted to deputy chief of staff.

In 1986, he moved to French ministry of Post and Telecommunications under secretary of state Gérard Longuet, acting as technical advisor and consultant for international affairs and industry. After a period at Matra Space as director of communications satellites, after the return to power of the Socialist Party, he returned to the French civil service under government under Longuet as his executive secretary, retaining the position in the Ministry of Industry, Posts and Telecommunications and Foreign Trade under Jose Rossi.

Appointed Group Director of Matra-Hachette from 1994, he became president and CEO of Matra Communication from 1995 to 1998. He then became managing partner of Oddo et Cie until 2002, when merged to become Pinatton Corporate he chaired the senior management team.

Appointed CEO of Vivendi in 2002, he became chairman of the Executive Board in 2005. In this capacity, he has hence chaired the supervisory board of Viroxis since 2007, and Activision Blizzard since 2009. In June 2012 Lévy left Vivendi due to a clash of views with the chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou and a clash over views on the company's future strategy.

Lévy has served on the boards of NBC Universal since 2004; Vinci S.A. and the Pasteur Institute since 2007; and Societe Generale since 2009. He has chaired the board of the Institute Telecom since 23 September 2009.

In December 2012 Lévy was appointed as the CEO of Thales Group.

In October 2014, he replaced Henri Proglio as the CEO of Électricité de France His period as CEO proved difficult, with declining profits and EDF's market value halving by March 2016, when the Chief Financial Officer resigned over investment decisions.

He was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, and an Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite.