ERIC LABAYE

About ERIC LABAYE

Éric Labaye is a French business leader known for a career that combines strategic advisory, organizational transformation, and academic leadership. As an independent director of Rexel, he brings extensive experience in governance, long-term value creation, and performance oversight. His profile is particularly relevant for listed companies, where the quality of board supervision, executive dialogue, and stakeholder engagement is critical to sustainable development. A graduate of École Polytechnique and Télécom Paris, and holder of an MBA from INSEAD, Labaye built most of his career at McKinsey & Company. Over the years, he held senior leadership roles, including Managing Director of McKinsey France and later a member of the firm’s global executive committee. He also chaired the McKinsey Global Institute, where he led research on structural economic themes such as growth, productivity, digitization, the future of work, and inequality. This international exposure gave him a strong understanding of industrial change and strategic decision-making at scale. In September 2018, he was appointed President of École Polytechnique and later became President of Institut Polytechnique de Paris when it was created in 2019. In these roles, he supported the development of new academic programs, the strengthening of the institution’s international reach, and the acceleration of its strategic positioning. His tenure was marked by a strong focus on innovation, academic partnerships, and the adaptation of higher education institutions to technological and societal shifts. At Rexel, Labaye contributes to board-level oversight of strategy and governance, including work within the Audit and Risk Committee. His expertise in strategy, governance, and change management is particularly valuable for an international B2B distribution group focused on electrification, energy transition, and operational modernization. His background reflects a combination of analytical rigor, long-term vision, and a deep understanding of how large organizations evolve in fast-changing environments.