LONDON — July 24, 2018 — Clayton, Dubilier & Rice today is pleased to announce the appointment of Bruno Deschamps, a seasoned executive with a distinguished career leading and advising both public and private industrial and services enterprises globally, as an Operating Advisor to CD&R funds.
Mr. Deschamps is Chairman of the Board of Diversey (HQ: Charlotte, NC - USA), a global leader of hygiene & sanitation products, services, and solutions to the institutional and industrial markets. He also served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Kloeckner Pentaplast (HQ: Montabaur, Germany), one of the world’s largest suppliers of films for pharmaceutical, medical devices, food, electronics, and general packaging.
Previously, Mr. Deschamps served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ecolab Inc. (HQ: Saint Paul, MN — USA), a Fortune 500 company with more than $14 billion in revenue. He lived for 10 years in Germany, where he was responsible for Henkel Industrial Adhesives worldwide and President & CEO of Teroson Gmbh before becoming the President and Chief Executive Officer of Henkel Ecolab.
From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Deschamps was a CD&R Operating Partner and worked on several of the Firm’s European investments during that period, including Brakes Group, a European food service supplier, VWR, a global distributor of scientific and technical laboratory supplies, Culligan, a producer of water filtration systems, and Rexel, a distributor of electrical parts and supplies.
He has also served as Group Managing Partner at 3i, responsible for investments in continental Europe and improving operational capabilities across the portfolio. He is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Entrepreneurs Partners, a consultancy playing an active role in helping private European companies drive growth globally. Mr. Deschamps started his career managing his family-owned specialty chemical company in France.
“Bruno is a skilled leader with a demonstrated record of success working with management teams to grow their businesses and improve operational effectiveness,” said Dave Novak, CD&R Partner. “We have first-hand knowledge of Bruno’s value creating capabilities from his time as an Operating Partner with the firm. We’re very pleased to welcome him back to the CD&R family as an advisor.”
“It is very exciting for me to reinforce my long-term relationship with CD&R, which has gone from strength to strength, and deepened its footprint in Europe,” said Mr. Deschamps. “I look forward to working with my old friends and the Firm’s portfolio company management teams to identify interesting investments and create value in the portfolio companies.”
Mr. Deschamps holds an MBA in marketing and finance from ISG Paris and is fluent in French, English, German, and Spanish. He is a Knight of the Legion d’honneur, France.