Biography of Joël Lebreton
Joël Lebreton graduated in engineering from MINES ParisTech and began his career in 1974 with Soretur, an urban development agency based in the Rouen urban area. Following a period spent working with France’s Ministry for Road Infrastructure, he joined the Caisse des Dépôts group where he was involved in particular in setting up the semi-public transport management company for the Orléans urban area.
In 1990, he founded Transdev and served as its Managing Director until 2008, before being appointed Chairman. In 2012, he was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board for Keolis, tasked with overseeing its growth.
In particular, Joël Lebreton played a major role in bringing the tramway back to France. In the 1980s, he was involved in tramway projects in Nantes, Grenoble and Strasbourg, all pioneering cities in this field.
Joël Lebreton is also highly involved in the charity sector. Since 2019, he has been chairman of Agrisud International, an NGO set up in 1992 (that he joined as administrator in 2014) which promotes and supports the development of small farming companies through agroecology. Agrisud International is involved in numerous initiatives to tackle poverty in around fifteen countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
He is also involved in a number of other charity and development organisations, such as Médecins du Monde and Habitat & Humanisme.
