In order to support its strategy for growth and diversification, Keolis is significantly changing its organizational structure and the composition of its Executive Committee, with:
- the appointment of Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke, Group Executive Director for Finance and Legal, and Asma Aïdi, Group Executive Director for Operational Performance and Transformation
- the creation of a New Mobilities business unit, led by Laurent Kocher.
“This new organizational structure illustrates our desire to better serve local communities and passengers. I want to make our service innovations a key source of value creation. Keolis needs to be able to improve its overall operational, environmental and financial performance, in order to offer its public transport authorities the best services at the most appropriate cost. And with the digital mobility revolution - involving autonomous vehicles, energy transformation and robotic artificial intelligence — this has led us to define and implement changes that will deliver the Keolis of tomorrow,” said Jean-Pierre Farandou, Keolis’ group executive chairman.
Three Executive Business Units (BU)
In addition to the France Business Unit, led by Frédéric Baverez, and the International Business Unit, led by Bernard Tabary, a new division has been created to support the evolution and diversification of Keolis, which is the New Mobilities Business Unit.
This new business unit, led by Laurent Kocher, has the objective of supporting the development of the Group’s subsidiaries Keolis Santé (medical transport), Kisio (digital services and solutions) and LeCab (private driver services) as well as activities resulting
from the Group’s partnerships with NAVYA (autonomous vehicles) and VIA Technologies (shared mobility service).
Six Executive Operational Management Units
The Group Executive Department for Finance and Legal will be led by Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke, who started in her role on April 3, 2018 and whose mission will be to drive the economic and financial performance of the Group.
The Group Executive Department for Operational Performance and Transformation will be led by Asma Aïdi, who started in her role on 16 April 2018. This department was created to lead the Group’s transformation, and brings together the areas of operations, metro-tram-engineering, rail, information technology (IT), purchasing, and the KeoLife corporate program.
The Group Executive Department for marketing, brand and communications, will be led by Thomas Barbelet, and has the objective of defining and promoting the Group’s market position and service offer to its passengers and transport authorities, as well as enhancing the attributes of the Keolis brand.
The Group Executive Department for Human Resources and Organisation, will be led by Bruno Danet, and will be in charge of managing talent within the Group. In this same capacity, Bruno Danet will oversee Knowledge Management in order to promote the sharing of expertise and the development of employees in Keolis’ 16 countries of operation.
The Group Executive Department for Safety, Security and Environment, will be led by Jacques Damas. It will be in charge of the Group’s corporate social responsibility policies. With his strong expertise in the rail industry, Jacques Damas will also advise the Group Executive Chairman on rail-related issues.
The Group Executive Department for Strategy, Development and Innovation, will be led by Arnaud Van Troeyen, who is expanding his role to now also manage the Group innovation strategy.
Two international profiles join Keolis’ Executive Committee
Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke joined Keolis as group executive director for finance and legal. Born in 1965, Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke is a French and Australian national. A graduate of the University Paris Dauphine and the Institut de Haute Finance, she started her career at Siemens in 1984 in the finance & management control, internal audit department in Germany then in Australia and France.
In 1999, Kathleen became the director of finance and business administration at Siemens France before joining Siemens headquarters in Munich to define the company’s strategic development in Australia, Japan, Korea and China.
From 2004 to 2010, she served as managing director of finance and business administration for Siemens Belgium, Luxembourg and West Africa, then Siemens France and south Western Europe.
In 2012, Kathleen joined the Engie group where she served as director of action plan and group performance until 2016, when she was appointed Executive Director of Operations & Performance, and a member of the Executive Committee at AKKA Technologies.
Kathleen is also an administrator of the NEXANS group.
On April 3, 2018, she joined Keolis’ Executive Committee and took on her role as the head of the new group executive department for finance and legal, where she is leading financial and legal activities, real-estate and general services at Keolis headquarters.
Asma Aïdi joins Keolis as group executive director for operational performance and transformation Asma Aïdi is a qualified engineer and obtained a master’s degree from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), before continuing her research at the French National Institute for Research in Information Technology and Robotics (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatisme — INRIA).
She started her career at Thales in 1984 as business development and project director. After 14 years of solid experience within the Thales Group — mainly in the public, transport and energy sectors — Asma joined the Steria Group in 1998 to develop the international transport sector.
In 2000, Steria entrusted her with establishing a subsidiary in South East Asia, with responsibility to lead the group’s development in the region. In 2006, Asma was appointed executive vice president and became a member of the executive team, based in London, to lead the quality, IT, operations and public sector portfolios. In 2009, following a key role in the successful integration of IT services provider Xansa into Steria UK, which employed 8,600 people at the time including 6,000 in India, Asma was appointed chief operating officer in India, with a mission to improve performance and profitability, by optimizing the use of resources and standardizing processes.
In 2012, she joined the Sopra Group as executive vice president of business development in Europe to support the group’s international growth objectives, where she remained until 2015. Following this she joined Vodafone as Director of Transformation.
On April 16, Asma joined Keolis’ Executive Committee as group executive director for operational performance and transformation, and is now in charge of the areas of operations, metro-tram-engineering, rail, IT and purchasing. This new business unit will cover all aspects of operations, maintenance, engineering, asset management, and will take the lead in the overall transformation of the Group.
Leading the way in public transport, Keolis partners with public decision makers to make shared mobility an asset for cities and their communities. Internationally recognised as the leading operator of trams and automated metros, Keolis adopts an innovative approach with all its partners and subsidiaries (Kisio, LeCab, EFFIA, Keolis Santé and Cykleo) to develop new forms of shared and customized mobility, and reinforce its core business across a range of transport modes including trains, buses, coaches, trolleybuses, shared private hire vehicles, river shuttles, ferries, cycles, car sharing services, electric autonomous vehicles and urban cable cars. In France, Keolis is now the leader in medical transport services through the creation of Keolis Santé in July 2017 and positioned as the number two car park operator, through its subsidiary EFFIA.
