Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Oct 25, 2012 10:01AM EDT
Marie-Christine Lombard, who quit suddenly as head of TNT Express in September, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Geodis, the logistics and transport unit of SNCF, France’s state-owned railway.
Lombard, 54, is replacing Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, who is leaving the company to pursue new projects. The appointment took effect on Oct. 24.
Pierre Blayau, the company’s chairman and CEO since January 2001, has become chairman of the supervisory board.
Blayau said the appointment of Lombard, a recognized sector professional, would give Geodis employees “a new sense of momentum in a difficult economic environment.”
“The arrival of Marie-Christine Lombard ... will strengthen the teams and ready Geodis for a new phase of profitable growth,” said SNCF chairman Guillaume Pepy.
Geodis booked a first half profit of 14.3 million euros [$18.6 million] on revenue of $4.6 billion.
Lombard resigned from TNT Express as the Dutch express company was seeking European regulators approval for its agreed $6.8 billion acquisition by its larger U.S. rival United Parcel Service. She ran the express operations of the former TNT for seven years before becoming its CEO when it was spun off from the Dutch mail company in 2011.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
