2014 Top 40 Under 40: Arnaud Gouachon

Sept. 22, 2014
Arnaud Gouachon, VP & Assistant General Counsel, Transdev North America Inc.

Arnaud Gouachon was promoted to vice president and assistant general counsel for Transdev North America Inc., formerly known as Veolia Transportation Inc., in New York in January 2014. He has responsibility over legal and ethics matters for Transdev’s On Demand division. The Human Resources and Regulatory Affairs departments also report to him.

Arnaud has nine years of experience as Transdev in-house counsel in both the U.S. and Europe. He brings an acute awareness of cultural differences in international settings to bear on multiple key competencies, including corporate and business law, contracts and ethics compliance.

Prior to this, he was in charge of legal and compliance activities as assistant general counsel for Nassau Inter-County Express, Long Island, New York (NICE Bus). Arnaud led the company to successfully pass several federal and state audits and investigations, including the first Federal Transit Administration triennial review of NICE Bus transit system as a public-private operating partnership between Nassau County and Veolia Transportation Services Inc.

Before then, as associate general counsel for Veolia Transportation North America in Chicago, Arnaud demonstrated strong team and project management expertise while deftly handling a wide range of legal responsibilities, including negotiation and supervision of acquisition projects and complex commercial agreements, as well as management of a wide range of litigation cases.

Arnaud has a Master of Laws with honors from Northwestern University Law School, Chicago, Illinois; a master’s in European business law from the University of Paris XII, Paris, France; a master’s in business law from the University of Toulouse I, in Toulouse, France; a J.D. Equivalent (Licence de droit) from the University of Toulouse I, Toulouse, France; a certificate of business administration from the Instituto de Empresa Business School, Madrid, Spain; and a French Baccalaureate (Bac Scientifique) in mathematics, with high honors.

Arnaud is a member of the New York State Bar association and the American Bar Association.

“Trying to anticipate what is the next challenge around the corner, from both a legal and business standpoints [is what I enjoy most about my position].”

“Long term, finding sustainable public transit and shared-ride solutions that will eventually get people out of their private cars is a mission one can only feel passionate about. Short-term, the technology transformation the transit industry is currently going through is even more exciting. Who can say today what the transit industry is going to be like in 10 years from now? Working hard and constantly challenging ourselves to make sure Transdev will remain at the forefront of the industry is an ambitious and rewarding objective, which I am proud to be a part of.”

“I enjoy practicing sport in general, and running in particular. Aside from keeping me in good shape, running has been teaching me a lot: nothing comes easy! Other than that, my number one favorite thing is probably to enjoy excessively long dinners (and drinks) with friends and family! Life just does not get any better than that!”