As part of the reconstitution of the SYSTRA Group, agreed by its two main shareholders, RATP and SNCF, SYSTRA's supervisory board, chaired by Pierre Mongin and with Guillaume Pépy as vice-president, has appointed its executive board.
The board is composed of Pierre Verzat, CEO, Gilles Cartier, Philippe Naudi and Bruno Schmitt. In anticipation of the new group organization, which is due to be announced at the end of this year, Cartier is to take charge of the blueprint for the operational structure, Philippe Naudi will prepare the new organization of sales and marketing, and Schmitt is appointed company secretary for the group, responsible for preparing the integration of legal, financial and support functions.
The supervisory board has asked the executive board to prepare a strategic plan by the end of the year to boost French transport engineering and build its position in Europe and throughout the world. Since with effect from 1 July, the two subsidiaries, INEXIA (SNCF Group) and XELIS (RATP Group) have been brought under the control of SYSTRA SA, with the aim of integrating the three companies.
CEO Pierre Verzat said: 'The project to merge our three organisations is going very smoothly as we have similar corporate cultures. For the moment, each company will retain commercial independence, which is necessary to honor its prior commitments. We are paving the way for a more integrated structure, which will enable us to make the most of the quality of our teams and benefits of this union to speed up our business development and take best advantage of the growth in public transport markets around the world, with the unfailing support of our two shareholders, RATP and SNCF."
Pierre Verzat, 50, graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique (Paris) as a Weapons Engineer and began his career in 1986 as head of technical department at DCNS shipyard. In 1992, he joined Dalkia (Veolia Environment Group) as CEO of its subsidiary, BEA. He moved to AREVA Group in 1996 as vice president of procurement for Technicatome. Between 1997 and 2003, he was chairman and CEO of another subsidiary, ELTA. In 2003, he became SVP of Technicatome's Transport, Environment and Industry Business Unit. In 2005, Verzat joined Astrium Space Transportation (part of the EADS Group) as SVP Engineering & Industry. In 2009, he was appointed chief operating officer of Astrium Services, a
position which he held until his appointment as CEO of SYSTRA on 15 March 2011.
Gilles Cartier, 60, is a graduate engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées School and holds a Master of Science from Berkeley University. His first job was as head of the Geotechnics Department at the Central Laboratory at Ponts et Chaussées, before joining SNCF in 1986, as head of various technical units. He then managed the major project for the new TGV Mediterranean line until its commissioning and launch. He was regional director of Provence, Alpes, Cote d'Azur, one of SNCF's largest regions, from 2000 to 2005, and then deputy director and Technical Director of SNCF's engineering division. With this track record, it was natural for him to take over as CEO of INEXIA when it was created in 2007.
Philippe Naudi, 53, began his career at RATP in 1977 at the Department of General Studies. Then, in 1988, he joined SOFRETU, which became SYSTRA, initially being responsible for technical and commercial activities in France and abroad. In 1994 he was appointed as SYSTRA's representative in Brussels, and then worked as director of Transport Planning Department and deputy director of Development. In 2004, he joined RATP Dev as director of Development. Naudi has been CEO of XELIS since 2008.
Bruno Schmitt, 51, joined the SYSTRA Group on July 25, as company secretary, and was appointed to the executive board of directors. Schmitt holds a Masters in Commercial Law and an MBA from HEC. Since 2009 he has been working as company secretary for the LORET Group, which, operating out of French Overseas Departments, is active in the automobile and telecoms sectors. Schmitt began his career as a lawyer at FRAMATOME. He then became Legal and Financial director at TECHNICATOME, deputy legal director at AREVA and head of Legal Affairs at CMA CGM. Throughout his career, spent both in large public companies and family businesses, he has taken charge of several major restructuring projects and managed changes in legal status.
