Louis Schweitzer Chairman of the French Foreign Affairs Council Special Representative of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Franco-Japanese Partnership President of France Initiative

Wharton Speaker >> Biography

Louis Schweitzer is a business leader and philanthropist. He joined Renault in May of 1986. After holding several leadership positions within the organization, he was promoted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, a position that he held until April 2005. During his tenure, he also served President of the Management board of Renault-Nissan BV. In 2005, he was named Chairman of the Renault Board of Directors.

Prior to his work at Renault, Schweitzer was a civil servant at the Budget Department, and served as chief of staff of Laurent Fabius, who was Minister of Budget in 1981, Minister for Industry and Research in 1983, and Prime Minister from 1984 to 1986.

Schweitzer has also held positions as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the French newspaper Le Monde; Chairman of AstraZeneca; and Chairman of AB Volvo. He serves on the board of BNP-Paribas, L'Oréal, and VEOLIA Environnement and AB Volvo, as well as on the boards of a number of not-for-profit institutions. He is President of France Initiative, a nonprofit organization that aims is to finance the creation and development of small enterprises.