Guillaume Pepy

Guillaume Pepy
Born	26 May 1958 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Nationality	French
Alma mater	Sciences Po, ÉNA
Occupation	CEO of SNCF

Guillaume Pepy (born 26 May 1958 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine) is a high-ranking French civil servant and is, since February 2008, president of SNCF, the French national rail authority. He is also Chairman of Eurostar and Deputy-Chairman of the Keolis Group.

The President of the Republic appointed him to run the state-owned enterprise on 27 February 2008 for a term of five years. In his Letter of Engagement, the Head of State asked him to make the development and modernisation of the enterprise the priorities of his mandate and that SNCF should enter, body and soul, into the era of development and competition.^[1]

Career at SNCF

Guillaume Pepy joined SNCF for the first time in 1988 as Chief of Staff to the then Chairman, Jacques Fournier. After a stint in various ministerial private offices (1990–1993), he came back as Head of Investment, Economy and Strategy.

In 1997, he was put in charge of Mainline Services and in 1998, became Deputy Chief Executive Officer with responsibility for all passenger activities (TER regional, Transilien Greater Paris suburban services, mainline services, rolling stock and operations). He instituted a new low fares policy designed to boost train occupancy rates using "yield management" flexible pricing techniques. He was also the driving force behind the creation of Voyages-sncf.com, of which he was Chairman from 1998 to 2006, and of iDTGV.

In 2003, Louis Gallois appointed him Group Chief Operating Officer. Anne-Marie Idrac, Chairman in the last 20 months of the term begun by Louis Gallois (July 2006- February 2008), confirmed him in this position.

He was also the prime mover in the launch of the Railteam European high-speed rail operator alliance.

Educational background

Guillaume Pepy attended the Ecole alsacienne high school in Paris. He is a graduate of the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and a former alumnus of ENA, in the Louise Michel year (1984). An Auditor and then Master of Requests at the Conseil d'État ("Council of State", the highest French Administrative Court - 1987), he worked in a number of ministerial private offices, was a technical advisor to Budget Minister Michel Charasse (1988), and Chief of Staff for the Minister for Public Service Michel Durafour and the Minister of Labour Martine Aubry. In 1995, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Sofres group with special responsibility for business development.

Private life

Closeted gay when he shared his life with Richard Descoings (from 1986) his companionship was publicly acknowledged at Descoing's funerals.^[2]

Notes

1. L'Usinenouvelle.com.
2. Raphaëlle Bacqué, Richie, Paris, éditions Grasset 2015