Bernard Hours

Bernard Hours, born on 5 May 1956 in Strasbourg, is a French businessman. He is the managing director of Danone and a member of the board of directors of the company. He is also a member of the executive committee of Danone.

Education

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

Career

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

In 1985, he joined the Danone marketing group at Kronenbourg. From 1989 and 2001, he was 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, Hours was named the Vice-President of the Fresh Dairy Products division and became the President in March 2002. In November 2006 he also took charge of the Research and Development at Danone.[2]

In 2008, Hours was managing director of Danone, 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]

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]

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

Other Activities

Hours is a member of the Administrative Counsel of Essilor as an independent director[6] and a member of the Administrative Counsel of the investment holding Verlinvest[7] and its participation Vita Coco. He is also e member of the Supervisory Board of Somfy.[8]

Awards

In 2009 he 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.[9]

Personal life

Hours is married and is the father of three children.

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References
  1. Bernard Hours – Directeur général délégué du groupe Danone, LSA Conso, 1 August 2011
  2. 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. "verlinvest". www.verlinvest.be. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  8. "Supervisory Board - Somfy Group -". www.somfy.com. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  9. HEC de l'année 2009 Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine, HEC Alumni, 2009
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