Thierry de La Tour d'Artaise was born in Lyon.[3] He is a Count and descendant of Henri de la Tour (1627-1687), Lord of Artaise-le-Vivier in the Ardennes.[3] He graduated from ESCP Europe in Paris.[1] He is a chartered accountant.[1] He speaks Thai, Portuguese and English fluently, and some Italian and Chinese.[3]
From 1979 to 1983, he was an audit manager with Coopers & Lybrand.[1] He served as the chief financial officer of Croisières Paquet, a subsidiary of Groupe Chargeurs, from 1984 to 1986, and as CEO from 1986 to 1993.[1]
He joined Groupe SEB in 1994.[1] He served as chairman of Calor (now a subsidiary of Groupe SEB) from 1996 to 1998 and as its CEO from 1994 to 1998.[1] In 1999, he became vice president of Groupe SEB.[2] Since 2000, he has served as its chairman and CEO.[1][2][4] He owns 125,417 shares of Groupe SEB.[2]
He married Bénédicte Lescure in 1980.[4] She is the daughter of Emmanuel Lescure, and granddaughter of Louis-Frédéric Lescure (1904-1993), who founded Groupe SEB in 1925.[4] Her family own 43.9% its shares and are worth 1.4 billion euros[clarify].[3][5]
