Mathieu Quéré (E98) Is The New President of ESSEC Alumni

Mathieu Quéré (E98) was unanimously elected President of the ESSEC Alumni Association by its executive committee on 11 October 2018.

He succeeds Charles Bouaziz (E88), President from 2012 and now Honorary President. In particular, Mr Bouaziz ensured a remarkable synergy with the school and contributed to the arrival at its helm of Jean-Michel Blanquer. He involved alumni in the 3i (Innovation, Internationalization, Involvement) strategic plan, which saw the opening of the Singapore campus. A precursor among the Parisian grandes écoles, under his leadership the association introduced the lifetime membership model, enabling it to build a future commensurate with the challenges it faces.

Mathieu Quéré is 47. Having joined ESSEC after a professional experience in publishing and a Master’s degree in history, he began his career in the strategic consultancy Bain & Company, where he stayed for five years. Following a leveraged buyout (LBO) by Wendel Investissement, he took part with Alain Kouck in the creation and development of the group Editis, the second largest publishing group in France. He joined the investment fund Abénex Capital as operational director, then the supervisory board of Buffalo Grill (350 restaurants and 7,000 employees), where he became general manager and then president. He also co-founded Éditions Kero (2012), which was later sold to Hachette Livres. He recently launched Penrith Education to create a network of bilingual primary schools based on the Montessori model.

In taking over the reins at ESSEC Alumni, Mathieu Quéré intends - with the school and the ESSEC Foundation - to meet the new challenges faced by the ESSEC Community. 'The three pillars for extending ESSEC’s influence – which is our common final objective – are the school, the Foundation and the Association. Our alumni need to be aware of the challenges and the incredible changes currently taking place for our school, as they have huge impact on the value of our common asset: the ESSEC brand. All alumni can and must help to meet these challenges, in whatever way possible. By giving their time to the association, by financing the school through the Foundation, or by helping and meeting students. It’s our degree of joint commitment that will allow us to take our Group even further.'

 Mathieu Quéré added: 'I have three key priorities. The first is to make our association truly international, taking into account the changing profiles of students (and therefore alumni). The second is to make the association even more efficient, and reinforce and promote our service offering. And the third is to continue to embrace and foster entrepreneurship. The school’s motto, after all, is 'the pioneering spirit'. The ESSEC community has to take a leading role here!'

To download the official press release, click here.