Jean-François Dehecq

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sanofi-aventis, France

Session

He participated in the "Contributions of life sciences to solve economic and social issues in expanding cities" session.

Biography

Jean-François Dehecq is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale des Arts et Métiers [university-level engineering college]. After teaching mathematics at the Saint-Vincent de Senlis Catholic College [secondary school] from 1964 to 1965, he became a trainee in scientific research in the Army’s Nuclear Propulsion Department.

In 1965, he joined the Société Nationale des Pétroles d’Aquitaine (SNPA, formerly Elf Aquitaine). He served in the economics departments from 1965 to 1969, became assistant to management from 1969 to 1970, then, from 1970 to 1971, operating engineer at the Lacq Factory, a major gas site in France. In 1973, he became Managing Director of Sanofi, an important Health pole of the Elf Aquitaine group. From 1982 to 1988 he was Vice-President and Managing Director of Sanofi, before taking over the management in February 1988. In 1999, he became President and Director-General of Sanofi-Synthelabo. In 2004, he organised the sanofi-aventis merger. Mr. Jean-François Dehecq was President and Director-General of sanofi-aventis until December 2006 and has been President since January 2007.