EADS nominates new heads for Eurocopter and MBDA
Amsterdam, 16 October 2002
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Fabrice Brégier to become new Eurocopter President and CEO
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Marwan Lahoud nominated to succeed Brégier as MBDA President and CEO
The Board of Directors of EADS, one of the world’s leading aerospace and defence companies, has appointed Fabrice Brégier (41) to succeed Jean-François Bigay (59) as Eurocopter’s President and CEO as of 1 April 2003. Prior to assuming his full responsibilities, Brégier will become Deputy to the President of Eurocopter as of 1 January 2003. Bigay, who has been with Eurocopter and its predecessor companies since 1986, will take on new responsibilities within EADS as of 1 April 2003.
Fabrice Brégier joins Eurocopter after having led since January 1998 the premier European missile and missile systems manufacturer. Under Brégier’s leadership, the Franco-British joint venture Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD) completed its integration. In December 2001, Brégier turned MBD into the trinational MBDA when it merged with Finmeccanica’s missile activities.
The EADS Board nominated Marwan Lahoud (36) to succeed Brégier at the helm of MBDA. Lahoud is presently Senior Vice President for Mergers and Acquisitions at EADS. He shaped the negotiations between EADS and BAE Systems to create an integrated Airbus company and he also contributed substantially to the creation of MBDA.
EADS CEOs Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich commended Bigay for his long and outstanding service to Eurocopter: “Jean-François Bigay was a driving force in the creation and integration of Eurocopter, beginning in 1992. His achievements include turning a helicopter consortium into the leader of the worldwide helicopter market. During his tenure, Eurocopter invested significantly in R&D and substantially redeveloped the product portfolio. Thanks to his vision and hard work, Eurocopter now has the most modern product line serving commercial, para-public and defence customers around the world.”
At the same time, Camus and Hertrich look forward to working with Brégier with his new responsibilities at Eurocopter: “Under Fabrice Brégier’s leadership, the newly-created MBDA has become a global company. He contributed to launching major co-operative European programmes such as Storm Shadow/Scalp-EG, the Aster/PAAMS family and Meteor. We look forward to seeing this same energy put to good use at Eurocopter.”
The CEOs added that “Marwan Lahoud will continue the momentum achieved by the Meteor program and its six partner nations (Germany, France, UK, Spain, Sweden and Italy). We believe his business and strategy acumen will help MBDA reach its full potential of global competitiveness and greater customer satisfaction.”
Fabrice Brégier worked extensively with the French Department of Industry, beginning in 1986. He also served as a technical advisor to the French Minister of Foreign Trade. He joined the Lagardère Group’s Matra Defense in 1993, working on the GIE Apache program, as well as the GIE Eurodrone project. Three years later, he became the Director of the stand-off missile activities at Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD), the MBDA predecessor. In 1998, Brégier was made CEO of MBD.
Lahoud joined Aerospatiale in 1998 and was involved in the merger between government-owned Aerospatiale and Lagardère’s Matra Hautes Technologies. As member of Aerospatiale Matra’s Management Committee he played an important role in the EADS merger. Before Aerospatiale, Lahoud worked with the French procurement agency, DGA, and was a special advisor to the French Minister of Defence.
About EADS
EADS is a global aerospace and defence company, and is the world’s second largest in terms of revenues, having achieved €30.8 billion in 2001. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. Its family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft maker Airbus; Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter manufacturer and Astrium, the space company. MBDA, the world's second largest missile company, is a joint venture between EADS (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Finmeccanica (25%), and according to its shareholders agreement, EADS has CEO nomination authority. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft program. EADS has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. It is active in markets around the world, including the U.S. and Asia.
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