Clément Michel – President & CEO, Keolis North America
Clément Michel has more than 18 years of experience in the provision of sustainable mobility solutions. He is a highly experienced and qualified executive leader with expertise in strategy development, business transformation, employee engagement and governance in both private and public sectors. In January 2016, he was appointed President & CEO of Keolis North America.
In 1999, after having worked in China for a couple of years, Clément began working in public transportation at SNCF (French National Railways), where he held numerous operational positions including the role of Managing Director of Gare de Lyon in Paris – one of France’s busiest train stations with its 100M passengers passing through each year. By the age of 29, he was responsible for the management of more than 1,000 employees and was able to improve punctuality, quality of service and commercial turnover during extensive renovation works and the Rugby World Cup in 2007.
In 2009, Clément joined Keolis as International Manager of Projects where he was part of the team that won a successful tender in Virginia, USA.
In July 2009, he moved to Melbourne, Australia to commence his role at Yarra Trams (Keolis Downer Victoria) as Chief Operating Officer at the beginning of the new franchise. He transitioned to Chief Executive Officer of Yarra Trams in January 2013.
As CEO, Clément’s vision was to make Yarra Trams a fully effective and efficient organization that would be safe, passenger-focused and sustainable. It is in Melbourne that Keolis launched its signature “Thinking Like a Passenger” approach. During his time with the company, he transformed Melbourne’s tram network, the largest in the world with 500km of tracks, 2400 employees and 210M trips per annum. Building strong, trusting and two-way relationships between managers and employees has been central to this effort. As a result of Clément’s approach, new team manager roles were created across the company to ensure that all employees were supported through a personal employee-manager relationship. Employee engagement increased by 47 per cent in 2 years. Customer satisfaction also significantly improved during his tenure, reaching 77.1 per cent in December 2015 – the highest result to date!
Clément is committed to diversity and ensuring equity of access to roles. And, at Yarra Trams, it was a business priority. As a result of his leadership, the company achieved some truly extraordinary results. In 2013, 15 per cent of applicants for driver roles were women. That number reached 50 per cent in 2015 thanks to the various initiatives he steered. In November 2015, Yarra Trams was awarded the City of Melbourne’s Melbourne Award for contribution to the community for its work on the Driven Women project. Clément is one of only 20 leaders appointed as Male Champions of Change by the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner, where leaders champion initiatives to achieve greater gender equality within their own organizations, workplaces and communities and regularly report to the group on their progress. Under Clément’s leadership, Keolis Downer was awarded in 2015 the Career Development Association of Australia Employer of the Year, and the Australasian Railway Association Employee Engagement awards.
Clément is avid about connecting communities and making cities more sustainable while bringing best value to the shareholder and taxpayers. He is a passionate advocate for public transportation, sustainability, and social inclusion, and is committed to seeing Keolis deliver the highest standards in service performance for customers.
Clément has a Master’s degree in engineering from the elite Ecole Centrale de Paris. He lives with his wife and two young children in the Boston area.
About Keolis
Keolis is one of the world’s leading public transport operators. The company is majority owned (70%) by the French state railway SNCF, the other shareholder being Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). Present in 16 countries* with 58,300 employees, Keolis operates 15 different transport modes (including automated metros, trams, trains, buses, ferries, bicycles and private driver services) and develops tailored mobility solutions for each of its networks. The Group offers solutions and services via its subsidiary, Kisio. It is also the second leading car park operator in France thanks to its subsidiary EFFIA. In 2016, Keolis transported 3 billion passengers and generated €5.1 billion in revenue.