Ernest-Antoine Seillière de Laborde, born 20 December 1937 in Neuilly-sur-Seine is an entrepreneur and the heir to the Wendel empire (representing €730 million).[1]
He is a member of Le Siècle think tank, an officer of the Légion d'honneur, and an officer of the Ordre National du Mérite. Contrary to popular belief, he is not a member of the French nobility and is therefore not a French baron (although his title is said to be authentic but papal).
His great-grandfather, Aimé Seillière (1835-1870) was married to Marie de Laborde (1844-1867) in 1865. His paternal grandfather is the French academician Ernest Seillière.
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He graduated from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, studying in law and a former pupil of the École nationale d'administration. Vice-président of the CNPF and member of the executive council from 1988 to 1997, President of the economic commission of the CNPF from 1988 to 1994, he became president of Medef (formerly CNPF) from December 1997 to 5 June 2005. He is CEO of Wendel Investment, a holding company for the CGIP. Seillière is close to the Traditionalist Catholics, in particular of the abbé Laguérie.[2]
He succeeded Jean Gandois as leader of the CNPF in December 1997, after the dismissal of the appeal for cut in 35 hours by the Socialist government. The union then took a more conservative direction, which was led by Denis Kessler, and changed its name. He retired after seven years as leader. Laurence Parisot succeeded him on July 5, 2005. Since winter 2005, Ernest-Antoine Seillière has been President of UNICE (renamed "BusinessEurope" in Janvier 2007), the federation of Europen business, based in Brussels.[3]