He then studied PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) at St John's College, University of Oxford.

In 1989, he moved to the industrial sector, being named chief financial officer of Ferruzzi Corporation of America, then held the same position with Eridania Béghin-Say.

He subsequently joined the PPR group as senior vice president for Finance and Strategy, before being named to the supervisory board of Générale de Santé.

He was then named vice chairman of Macquarie Capital Europe, a company specialized in infrastructure investments.

[2] On 25 February 2015, he was appointed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Special Representative for relations with Australia.