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[PROFILE] Gaël MARQUILLY - Traveling teaches tolerance!

Interview

-

09.03.2024

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

I am Gaël Marquilly, I am 45 years old, graduated from IÉSEG in 2002. I had the chance to meet my wife at IÉSEG, we are married and we have 3 children aged 15, 12 and 9 years old. We are both from the North. A great classic!!

What memories do you have of your studies at IÉSEG? An anecdote that marked you during your studies?

I keep the memory of a studious and sporty atmosphere, exceptionally, we put down our pencils to release the pressure during the IÉSEG evenings. Our classes were on a human scale, around a hundred students per class, we were united during revision times as well as during sports competitions.

One of the best memories remains the first French football championship title in Nice in 2000, we never imagined we could win. Match after match, we found ourselves in the final, supporters came to Nice, even Jean Philippe Ammeux came and we won!

Have you kept in touch with your classmates?

I have kept a lot of contact with my classmates, I thank IÉSEG for these 5 years of study which allowed me to meet people who I still know and whom I respect very much.

What were the major stages of your professional career? Where are you today?

I started my professional career at EDF in Paris, 3 years in Saint Mandé then 3 years at the headquarters on Avenue de Wagram in consolidation. I then left for Decathlon: 2 years at headquarters in the consolidation team, 4 years in Budapest as financial director for Hungary, then Hungary and Croatia (Zagreb). Return to France in 2015, after a few changes within the French finance team, I became the financial director of France for Decathlon (retail activity) for 3 years.

We wanted to leave again, our children were still young and I accepted the position of financial director in South Africa, for 3 years, the last of which involved trips to Congo (Kinshasa) where I took charge of financial management during my last year of expatriation.

We have been back in Lille for a year now and I am the management control leader for the Decathlon Group for the retail activity.

Budapest, South Africa, you've moved around a lot for your job. How did the expatriation and adaptation go as a family, with children?

What are the difficulties that may be encountered? Cultural, administrative, family…?

Our 7 years of expatriation have been extremely enriching experiences, firstly from a professional point of view: the job of financial director is the most exciting job in finance at Decathlon: member of the management committee, responsible for all finance and management scope and in total autonomy within a country.

Then from a family point of view, the cities we lived in were incredible (Budapest and Johannesburg) and we experienced them at ideal times for us and for our children.

With newborns, Budapest was an ideal destination: close to Lille and magnificent. With older children, Johannesburg and South Africa trips suited us perfectly! We were able to make the most of it. We were keen to introduce our children to other people, other cultures, other ways of thinking.

Do you have any advice to share with those considering taking the plunge?

2 pieces of advice to share, the most important: the decision to expatriate is made by 2 people, the spouse also writes a parentheses during the expatriation, I was lucky to have a wife who was motivated for our 2 expatriations, she was ready to sacrifice her professional career to share these life experiences.

The 2nd is more personal: try to get back to where you want to live before your children become teenagers.

We are both from Lille, I wanted my children's roots to be from Lille, that they would dip Maroilles in Chicory for breakfast!

I wanted to return to Lille before our children reached adolescence, a period during which the first friendships are created. We had the opportunity to go to Colombia and Brazil but we preferred the North! Closer to my family and friends.
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