Eurostar Group picks new CEO

Eurostar Group has announced that, as of October, Gwendoline Cazenave will become its new CEO.

With 20 years’ experience in rail transport, the group says Gwendoline brings considerable expertise, energy and vision.

As partner at management consultancy Oliver Wyman for the last two years, Gwendoline has worked on the French and European transport and services markets, with a particular focus on strategy and transformation in the rail sector.

Prior to this, she was an executive at SNCF holding a range of high-level posts including Director of TGV Atlantique, the high-speed route operating in the south west of France, Director of Finance, Strategy and Legal Affairs at SNCF Voyages and a variety of strategic and operational roles within SNCF’s regional transport arm, TER.

Gwendoline has held a number of important non-executive roles, with a focus and interest in gender equality and environmental initiatives, and these are two areas she will continue to drive forward within Eurostar Group. She will be committed to building on the existing culture of customer service excellence shared by Eurostar and Thalys.

Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs and Alain Krakovitch, Director of TGV-Intercités and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurostar Group said: “We have complete confidence in Gwendoline Cazenave to lead the business, continuing the positive journey of recovery put in place by Jacques Damas. We warmly thank Jacques for his determined approach with all of his teams. He successfully led Eurostar out of an unprecedented situation, which saw 95% of its activity on hold for 15 months, and officially put in place our new business structure. We also thank Bertrand Gosselin, CEO of Thalys since 2019, for his work to manage the business during the crisis and for his significant contribution to the continued growth of the company. With her strong experience, Gwendoline Cazenave will continue to successfully bring together Eurostar and Thalys, promoting the development of rail transport in Europe and creating a business which will meet the growing demand for sustainable mobility. The ambition is to transport 30 million passengers per year within 10 years under a single brand, Eurostar, with excellence in customer service at its heart. Offering passengers the largest international high-speed network in Western Europe, the combined business will accelerate the recovery of both Eurostar and Thalys from the pandemic”

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