Progress Associés, the French leader in assisting decision-makers and companies in the creation and development of management teams, announces the appointment of Jean-Philippe Demaël as President. He succeeds Alain Prestat, who remains a director and becomes Honorary President. Progress Associés continues to build its future by relying on Jean-Philippe Demaël and Alain Prestat’s excellent knowledge of industrial companies (ETI and groups, listed or family-owned), the evolution of their business models and the development of their employees.

Jean-Philippe Demaël becomes Chairman of Progress Associés.

A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and a Corps des Mines engineer, Jean-Philippe Demaël was CEO and then Chairman of the Management Board of Somfy between 2008 and 2016. He is currently the founder and Chairman of Horizons Altitude, a strategy consulting firm, as well as of Double Mixte, a company specializing in the retraining of high-level athletes. He began his career in the civil service, in the DRIRE before becoming the Director of Cabinet of the Director General of Industry. Between 1998 and 2008, he worked for the Usinor Sacilor Group, which became Arcelor Mittal, holding the positions of Managing Director of the Automotive Stainless Europe activity and CEO of Acesita (Aperam Brazil).

“Progress Associés is one of the leading brands in executive headhunting, but also in assisting decision-makers and companies in the creation and development of their management teams. Throughout my career, I have been able to appreciate how decisive these missions are for the growth of companies. Today, I am delighted to be able to contribute to the development of the firm, in an economic context in which the qualities of the Progress teams have been able to reveal themselves.” comments Jean-Philippe Demaël.

Alain Prestat becomes Chairman Emeritus of Progress Associés.

Alain Prestat has steered and accompanied the development of Progress Associés since 2004, first as Chairman and CEO, then as Chairman since 2017. He remains a director and becomes Honorary Chairman. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, he was Deputy Director of the cabinet of Michel Rocard, Prime Minister, and Chairman and CEO of Thomson Multimedia and TCE Inc. in the United States.

Alain Prestat says: “I am very happy to hand over the presidency of Progress to Jean-Philippe Demaël. I will continue to contribute to the success of the firm’s missions as a director, alongside the team of partners.”

A very strong dynamic for Progress Associates in 2020 and 2021

The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the need for managers to transform their management teams in order to strengthen certain key skills in the running of companies. In this context, the skills of Progress Associés in the constitution and development of management teams have been strongly requested by companies. Progress Associés will record a very strong development of its activities in 2021.