Executive Committee members
Nicolas Japy
Group Chief Operating Officer
CEO Remote Sites, and Asia/Australia , On-site Service Solutions
Nicolas Japy is President, Sodexo Remote Site Management and a member of the Group Executive Committee and International Committee. He successfully restructured and built up the subsidiary's teams, making Universal Sodexho the world's second-largest remote sites management company. Today it has 29,000 employees and close to €848 million in revenues.
Nicolas started his career in 1982 as an oil consultant for Beicip Inc., a consulting and multi-client studies subsidiary of Institut Français du Pétrole. He then worked for the regional airline TAT before being hired by Air Vendée as Managing Director.
In 1991, while reading a newspaper on an Air Inter flight, he saw an advertisement for a job vacancy at Sodexho. He not only had the requisite qualifications and management experience, with the knowledge of Africa and the understanding of trade unions and government negotiations, he also had the advantage of being well acquainted with the oil industry. He got the job, joining the Group as Director Congo. Two years later he was posted to Saudi Arabia, where he restored the subsidiary to good health. In 1997, he was promoted to Director Africa, with the mission of driving growth in countries experiencing difficulties.
In 2001, he took on the role of President, Universal Sodexho redefining the strategy and united team members around shared Group values, using "profitable growth" as his watchword. His next challenges include organizing a centralized sales unit, setting up a team of technical experts, designating priority regions, penetrating new countries and establishing an international unit in charge of partnerships and lobbying.
Convinced that Sodexo has a leading role to play in developing the local economy in its host countries, he created a sustainable development unit to support clients in this area and improve the quality of life for the local population, with a focus on transparency and the long term.
Born in 1956, Nicolas is married and has four children.
