Overview
Henri de La Croix de Castries (born 15 August 1954) is a French businessman. He was chairman and CEO of AXA until retiring from both roles on 1 September 2016.
Early life
Henri de La Croix de Castries was born on August 15, 1954, in Bayonne. His father was Count François de La Croix de Castries (1919/20–2011) who had a military career in Korea, Indochina, and Algeria. His maternal grandfather, Count Pierre de Chevigné, was a colonel in the Free French forces.
With the backing of his family, De Castries broke with custom by not choosing a military career, although he did perform his national service in a parachute regiment, where he developed a passion for freefall.
De Castries attended the Ecole Saint-Jean de Passy, followed by high school at the Collège Stanislas de Paris He graduated from HEC Paris in 1976, the same year as Serge Lepeltier and Denis Kessler, from the École nationale d'administration alongside Dominique de Villepin, François Hollande and Ségolène Royal in 1980 (Promotion Voltaire). He also holds a law degree and speaks fluent English and German.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
