Strategic Board
Mr. Bertrand Collomb
Honorary President of Groupe Lafarge.
Bertrand Collomb is an alumnus of the École Polytechnique (class of 1960) and Mines ParisTech with a law degree. He obtained a PhD in Management from the University of Texas.
From 1966 to 1975, he held administrative positions at the Ministry of Industry, where he was an engineer from the Corps des Mines in Metz (1966-1970), then Assistant to the IT Chief, Maurice Allègre, who entrusted him with the development of IT education in France (1971-1973 ). At the same time, he founded the Centre for Research in Management at École Polytechnique, for which he passed responsibility to Michael Berry in 1974. From 1973 to 1975, he was a technical adviser in ministerial offices: Alain Peyrefitte (administrative reforms: 1973-1974) and René Haby (education).
He joined Lafarge in 1975. After holding several positions in the group, he was CEO of Lafarge Corporation, the North American subsidiary of the group (1985-1988). He was appointed CEO of Lafarge in August 1989 and became Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2003, and honorary chairman in May 2007. He led the international development of the group, which became the world leader in cement, and now operates in more than 80 countries.
Bertrand Collomb, at the Lafarge Group, campaigned for respect for the values ​​of sustainable development and respect for the environment. He is a member of the commission that drafted the Charter of the Environment, present today in the preamble of the 1958 Constitution and is part of the Expert Committee of the ALCEN Foundation for Energy Awareness.
He has a particular interest in the United States, where he has a second home in Virginia. He was previously President of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue and often participated in US-European Bilderberg meetings. He also is part of its steering committee. In October 2010, Bertrand Collomb published with Michel Drancourt a book entitled "Plaidoyer pour l'entreprise" (Argument for Business) on the role of human-centered business in globalisation.