1. First of all, congratulations for 26 years at EDC, it is a great achievement. Can you walk us through your career progression within the firm?

Sure, I started in…1999 in our London office. At the time, I was working for another consulting firm in London. I saw that EDC was setting up an office in Sydney so I applied. I got the job and left for Australia three months later. It was a great experience to be part of the process of setting up a new office in Sydney. I through enjoyed by tour of duty down under and love the quality of life there with its positive work-life balance. I then moved to our headquarters in San Francisco in 2002. Again, another great experience, including becoming a father. My two girls were born there . We moved back to France to set up the Paris office in 2008 which has since then gone from strength to strength. Perhaps I should start thinking of another city soon!

2. What made you want to stay in the firm all this time?

A combination of factors. The firm was set up in San Francisco by a group of people who were entrepreneurs who wanted to do interesting consulting work with a focus on payments and financial services while making the new company a fun place to work. the founders always had an international outlook which is still the case today and is now part of our DNA. We do very interesting consulting and advisory work in three areas now (strategy; M & A advisory; Litigation support) and have a team of dedicated like-minded industry experts and consultants from multiple countries speaking many languages. It is our people and their dedication that has made EDC my “professional” home for all these years.

‍

3. Could you tell us about one or two projects that you particularly enjoyed?

Hard to pick only one or two! But we build and thrive on long-term relationships that are based on trust with our clients. One that comes to mind is a client who has chosen to work with us for over 20 years and their CEO has now become a close personal friend. Another one is a for a client where our strategic advice contributed to their growth. We came up with an original idea and by combining two existing products and working out the pricing, business case, and go-to-market plans, we saw the client grow and grow.

4. I know you travel quite a lot for work, any interesting stories that you can share?

As I run our Travel Payments practice, it is normal that I travel quite a lot and have a few “interesting” stories to tell. Once a very helpful airline agent reopened the plane door after it had been shut so that I could take the last flight home with my two girls (and we even got upgraded to business class, don’t tell my wife who could not make that flight). Another one is about handing my passport to a customs officer in the US with a $20 bill that had inadvertently slipped into my passport …  you can imagine his reaction!

5. What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies?

I am a bit sport crazy. Addicted to cycling and a very keen Arsenal supporter. I lived this passion by volunteering for Paris 2024 which was an extremely rewarding experience!

‍

6. Lastly, what is your favourite book or what are you reading these days?

I often read books in parallel. I am currently reading Ken Follett’s The Armor of Light and Amor Towles’ Table for Two. I may pick up Hugh Howey’s Silo as well.

‍

The content of this article does not reflect the official opinion of Edgar, Dunn & Company. The information and views expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s).