Frédéric Jousset

Life

After graduating from HEC Paris in 1992, Frédéric Jousset started his career at L’Oréal in 1994 and held several marketing and commercial responsibilities in the Professionnel department. Four years later he founded his first enterprise, Clientis SA, which provided a management software package to hair and beauty salons.

In 1999 he sold Clientis SA in order to join the American engagement strategy advisory bureau for Bain & Company, where he specialized in private equity. There he met Olivier Duha, with whom he would go on to found Webhelp.

Frédéric did military service, as sub-lieutenant of the 6th parachute regiment of the marine infantry at Mont-de-Marsan. Afterwards, in 2007-2008, he sat in on the 60th national session of the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN). Today he is colonel of the "réserve citoyenne" (citizenship reserve) in the air force.

From 2007 until 2009 he was a teacher at Sciences Po. Today he is visiting professor at the HEC group, where he teaches topics related to customer experience.

Career

In June 2000, together with Olivier Duha, he founded Webhelp. Their initial goal was to offer online solutions to businesses and the general public. The company quickly became a leader in business process outsourcing, running a number of contact centres in France and beyond and offering a range of customer relations solutions. Their ambition was to become the European leader in the customer experience field. In 2016 Webhelp celebrated its 16th anniversary and has become a major customer experience and business process outsourcing provider (ranked 2nd place in France and 7th in Europe). Webhelp employs more than 35,000 people and is set to have a 2016 turnover of €575 million. Webhelp is present in over 25 countries including France, Morocco, Algeria, Romania, Belgium, Madagascar, United Kingdom, South Africa, the Netherlands, India, Portugal, Italy, and Germany. Since its creation the enterprise has grown exceptionally, increasing its turnover by a factor of twenty over ten years.

Trade union commitment

Frédéric Jousset is a board member at the French trade union of contact centres, Syndicat des professionels des centres de contacts (SP2C). In addition, he is a member of Medef and of Croissance Plus, of which Olivier Duha was president from 2011 until 2013.

Commitment to the arts

With a passion for contemporary art, Frédéric Jousset is a recognised collector and strongly involved in the cultural scene. He was the head of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris between 2011 and 2014, and since 2007 he has held a chair on the acquisition board of the Louvre Museum, of which he is one of the youngest patrons. He took part in the funding of an excavation site in Sudan, in the creation of a children’s version of the museum website and in the making of a series of conferences on the history of art at the La Santé Prison and the Poissy Central House prison. In this role, he also helped acquire The Flight into Egypt (Poussin painting) by Nicolas Poussin, alongside 17 other patrons. His various supporting projects have earned him a seat on the superior patronage council of the Louvre and the distinction as grand patron of the museum.

Extreme Sports

A sportsman and thrill seeker, after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 1997 and the Mont Blanc in 2004, in 2010 Frédéric Jousset participated in the climbing of Shishapangma in China, the 14th highest mountain in the world at 8,027 metres (26,335 ft) above sea level. In 2015, he took on the challenge of the Stockholm Marathon which he finished in 3 hours, 38 minutes.

Honours