Bernard Hours

Bernard Hours, born on 5 May 1956 in Strasbourg, is a French businessman and leader. He is known as the managing director of Danone and a member of the board of directors of the company alongside Franck Riboud and Emmanuel Faber, as well as others. He is also a member of the executive committee of Danone.

Education

Bernard Hours graduated from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in 1978.[1]

Career

Bernard Hours began his career at Unilever in 1979 as Product Manager and Brand Manager. He progressively became an expert in the agribusiness, or food, sector.[1]

Danone

In 1985, he joined the Danone marketing group at Kronenbourg. Between 1989 and 2001, he became the Director of Sales of Evian, and then Director of Marketing for Danone France, later becoming the President of Danone Hungary (1994), Danone Germany (1996) and finally President of LU France in 1998.[2]

In November 2001, Bernard Hours was named the Vice-President of the Fresh Dairy Products division and became the President in March 2002. He managed to double yoghurt, improved the sales of Danone products in over 50 countries, and to make the brand Activia a commercial success at a worldwide level. In November 2006 he also took charge of the Research and Development at Danone.[2]

Since 1 January 2008, Bernard Hours has occupied the post of managing director of Danone, and is responsible for four operating divisions of the group: fresh dairy products, waters, baby nutrition, and medical nutrition, as well as of research and development.[3]

Bernard Hours contributed significantly to sales growth between 2007 and 2013, which amounted to an increase of 36.4% (from 14 to 22 billion euros) during this period. He exercised is responsible for all activities of Danone, encompassing around 100,000 people in and 100 countries.[4]

As of 1 October 2014, at the time of a change of governance, Bernard Hours ended his position as managing director of Danone, by the decision of the Administrative Counsel.[5]

Other Activities

Bernard Hours is a member of the Administrative Counsel of Essilor as an independent director.[6]

Awards

In 2009 Bernard received the HEC prize of the year, decided by the jury and rewarded as recognition of executives for exceptional years, the actual strength of their business or institution, and their work towards the HEC community.[7]

Personal life

Bernard Hours is married and is the father of three children. He is an avid sports fan. Bernard Hours is also fluent in English, German, Spanish, Russian, and Hungarian.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bernard Hours – Directeur général délégué du groupe Danone, LSA Conso, 1 August 2011
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bernard Hours – Former Independent Director, Danone, Business Week
  3. ↑ Le groupe danone adapte ses organes de direction, Danone, 1 July 2007
  4. ↑ Le numéro 2 de Danone, Bernard Hours, sort de l'ombre, Capital, 24 November 2011
  5. ↑ Danone Names Faber CEO as Riboud Separates Dual Roles, Bloomberg, 3 September 2014
  6. ↑ Bernard Hours – Essilor, Essilor
  7. ↑ HEC de l'année 2009, HEC Alumni, 2009