Alexandre Ricard

Alexandre Ricard (born 12 May 1972) is a French businessman and one of the grandsons of distiller and Pernod Ricard founder, Paul Ricard. He became Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Pernod Ricard, the world's second-biggest distiller by sales, on February 11, 2015.

Early life and education Ricard was born on 12 May 1972 in Boulogne Billancourt, France, and grew up in Andorra. He graduated from ESCP Europe (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) in 1995. He holds an MBA with a specialization in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School of Business and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences, which he obtained in 2001. He speaks French, English, Italian and Spanish.

Career Upon graduation in 1995, Ricard started his career outside the family business. After working at Banque Indosuez in Milan, he joined Accenture from 1997 to 1999, where he consulted on strategy. He then joined Morgan Stanley in London from 2001 to 2003, specializing in M&A.

In 2003, he joined his family's company in the audit department. His M&A skills were used during this period on the purchase of Allied Domecq by Pernod Ricard. In September 2006, he became the managing director of Pernod Ricard Asia Duty Free, thus moving to Hong Kong. The succession announcement had been planned prior to Patrick Ricard's death, for the November 2012 shareholder meeting, but was moved up two months due to the circumstances. In the meantime, Ricard worked closely with Pringuet in all strategic matters for the Group.

Other activities Brookings Institution, Member of the Board of Trustees L'Oréal, member of the board since 2021.