Who Is Philippe Mellier

Published on 23/05/11

In a surprise appointment, diamond giant De Beers has appointed Philippe Mellier as chief executive, a mechanical engineer with a background in cars and trains and no experience in diamonds or South Africa. Here, we take a closer look at the industry outsider.

Philippe Mellier was born in 1955. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the National School of Advanced Techniques, in Paris, in 1979 and the European Institute of Business Administration at Fontainebleau in 1980.
In 1980 he began his career at Ford Motor Company as a supervisor of planning and sales analyst. For 19 years he held various positions as a manager for Ford in France, Portugal, New Zealand and Mexico. He finished his career at Ford as vice-president of marketing, sales & service, Europe.