
Eurostar executive committee
Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO
Gwendoline Cazenave has extensive expertise in the rail and wider transport industries. After 20 years of experience in the SNCF Group, where she held key positions in Business, Operations, Strategy and Finance, she was a partner at Olivier Wyman, a strategy consulting firm, between 2020 and 2022. She also has significant expertise in corporate governance, through her non-exec roles at the Union Financière de France and Tallano Technologies. Gwendoline has also led a number of initiatives within gender equality and social and environmental responsibility.
Laurent Bellan, Chief Technology & Process Optimisation Officer
Laurent Bellan joined Eurostar as Head of Customer Systems in 2012, becoming Chief Information Officer (CIO) three years later.
Before Eurostar, Laurent spent ten years at the global pharmaceutical company, Bristol Myers Squibb, where he was IT Director for the French business and then Director for Enterprise Web in the US.
Nele De Brabandere, Chief People Officer
Nele has considerable legal and HR experience in the railway sector. She worked as attorney from 1998 to 2007 before joining SNCB as Legal Counsel in 2007. Nele joined Thalys in 2014 as lead for the HR workstream of the project to create the railway company THI Factory. She’s been Director of Human Resources of Thalys since 2016.
François Le Doze, Chief Commercial Officer
François joined Eurostar in April 2011 and held a number of senior roles within the Commercial function before becoming Head of Business Performance in 2015, followed by Business Optimisation Director in 2019. He was appointed Chief Commercial Officer in December 2020 and is responsible for Revenue Management, Business Optimisation, Sales and Marketing, Digital, Customer Experience and Brand.
Simon Lejeune, Chief Safety and Stations Officer
Simon joined Eurostar in 2015 as Programme Manager e320 Operations, with responsibility for the operational readiness of the e320 new fleet launch, going on to become Deputy Head of Safety and then Head of Operations. He then became Chief Operating Officer for Eurostar in March 2021. Prior to Eurostar, Simon held key roles at Network Rail and Eurotunnel.
Matthieu Quyollet, Chief Business Development & Integration Officer
Matthieu will drive the integration of Thalys and Eurostar, defining its business strategy. He heads up the customer experience, brand platform and product offer in an integrated UK / continental Europe team. Matthieu joins Eurostar from Thalys where he was Deputy CEO for over three years, bringing with him 15 years of experience in strategy and transformation in the private and public sector, both in France and internationally.
David Sitruk, Chief Financial Officer
David began his career in the auditing firm of Arthur Andersen, then Deloitte. In 2008, David joined the Agence des Participations de l'Etat, at the French Ministry of Finance, to bring his expertise and added value in the monitoring of companies in which the French State is a shareholder. In 2012, he joined the SNCF Group as Director of Consolidation and Standards. After holding several positions in the Finance Department, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of SNCF Mobilités in 2018 and then Chief Financial Officer of SNCF Group in 2020. He has also been a director of SNCF Voyageurs since 2020.
Gareth Williams, General Secretary & Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer
Gareth joined Eurostar in 2011 from the UK Department for Transport (DfT), bringing with him 20 years' experience in UK government and an in-depth knowledge of the rail industry. Gareth heads up the Legal team and leads on the development and appraisal of Eurostar’s strategic choices and new business proposals, as well as all regulatory matters, working alongside other business functions to advise on issues affecting Eurostar where government legislation or industry regulation is involved. In addition, Gareth serves the Eurostar board as Company Secretary.
Zelda Crambert, Director of Rolling Stock
Zelda has been Director of Rolling Stock at Eurostar Group since January 2023. Prior to Eurostar, Zelda worked at SNCF where she was Head of Suburban trainlines in the north of Paris. She has extensive experience in production, performance, maintenance management and operation and maintenance articulation.
Amar Chaabi, Director of Operations
Amar joined Eurostar Group in January 2023. He began his career with the ADP group before joining SNCF in 2002 as Deputy Director of Main Line Operations at the National Passenger Operations Centre. Since then Amar has held various positions within the SNCF's Operations Department including Director of Paris Gare de Lyon and Head of Security at Transilien.