Bio

Serge Weinberg founded Weinberg Capital Partners along with Philippe Kloconas in 2005. Before embarking on his career as a business leader and entrepreneur, Serge held a number of higher civil service positions. He joined the Havas group in 1983 as CEO, and then Chairman, of Havas Tourisme. In 1987, Serge was named CEO of Pallas Finance, a trust company focused on mergers and acquisitions. He advised François Pinault for the acquisition of a stake in CFAO. In 1990, Serge joined the Pinault group, which became PPR and then Kering, as Chairman and CEO of CDME, later renamed Rexel, where he implemented an active external growth strategy, completing some 40 acquisitions of local, and often family-owned, companies. He thus doubled Rexel’s size between 1991 and 1995, also achieving a twofold increase in profit and market capitalization. In 1995, Serge was appointed Chairman of Pinault and went on to give the group a strong international focus. In 1999, alongside François Pinault, he orchestrated Pinault’s promising move into the luxury sector, before leaving the group in 2005 to form Weinberg Capital Partners. Serge has remained very attached to public affairs throughout his career. His commitments in this space are many and varied, all having as a common thread an entrepreneurial spirit combined with service in the public interest. In particular, he is a founding member and serves as Treasurer of the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM). In 2005, Serge created Télémaque with Patrick Gagnaire to offer scholarships to bright and motivated young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2018, he launched Changer par le Don with Denis Duverne, an initiative to encourage philanthropy. Serge is also keenly attentive to the changing landscapes of geopolitics and defence. Under the pseudonym Serge Vignemont, he is one of the authors of Armée, nation : le rendez-vous manqué (Paris: PUF, 1975). He has also been made a Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur. Formerly Chairman of Accor, Serge has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanofi since 2010. He has a degree in law and is a graduate of the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and of the École Nationale d’Administration.