Bernard Hours
{{Cleanup bare URLs|date=September 2022}}
{{Undisclosed paid|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{ infobox Person
| name = Bernard Hours
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|05|05|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Strasbourg, France
| alma_mater = HEC Paris
| occupation = COO of Danone {{small|(2008-2014)}}
}}
Bernard Hours, born on 5 May 1956 in Strasbourg, is a French businessman. He was the managing director of Danone and a member of the board of directors of the company. He was also a member of the executive committee of Danone.
Education
Career
Hours began his career at Unilever in 1979 as Product Manager and Brand Manager. He progressively became an expert in the food sector.
In 1985, he joined the Danone marketing group at Kronenbourg. From 1989 and 2001, he was the Director of Sales of Evian, and then Director of Marketing for Danone France, later becoming the President of Danone Hungary (1994), Danone Germany (1996) and finally President of LU France in 1998.[https://archive.today/20141121144230/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=4804993&ticker=BN:FP Bernard Hours – Former Independent Director, Danone], Business Week
In November 2001, Hours was named the Vice-President of the Fresh Dairy Products division and became the President in March 2002. In November 2006 he also took charge of the Research and Development at Danone.
Hours contributed significantly to sales growth between 2007 and 2013, which amounted to an increase of 36.4% (from 14 to 22 billion euros) during this period. He exercised is responsible for all activities of Danone, encompassing around 100,000 people in and 100 countries.[http://www.capital.fr/enquetes/hommes-et-affaires/le-numero-2-de-danone-bernard-hours-sort-de-l-ombre-548689 Le numéro 2 de Danone, Bernard Hours, sort de l'ombre], Capital, 24 November 2011
In 2014, at the time of a change of governance, Hours ended his position as managing director of Danone, by the decision of the Administrative Counsel.[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-02/danone-appoints-faber-as-ceo-as-franck-riboud-splits-dual-roles.html Danone Names Faber CEO as Riboud Separates Dual Roles], Bloomberg, 3 September 2014
In 2015, Hours became president of Medvet https://fr.linkedin.com/in/bernardhours {{Self-published source|date=August 2022}} and Chef Sam.{{cite web | url=https://www.chef-sam.es/our-team | title=Chef Sam }} He is also Board Member for Verlinvest {{cite web | url=https://www.verlinvest.com/team/bernard-hours/ | title=Bernard Hours }} and Oatly.https://investors.oatly.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors
Other Activities
Hours is a member of the Administrative Counsel of Essilor as an independent director[http://www.essilor.com/fr/Groupe/Gouvernance/ConseilAdministration/Pages/BernardHours.aspx Bernard Hours – Essilor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129084527/http://www.essilor.com/fr/Groupe/Gouvernance/ConseilAdministration/Pages/BernardHours.aspx |date=29 November 2014 }}, Essilor and a member of the Administrative Counsel of the investment holding Verlinvest{{Cite web|title = verlinvest|url = http://www.verlinvest.be/|website = www.verlinvest.be|access-date = 2016-01-12}} and its participation Vita Coco. He is also e member of the Supervisory Board of Somfy.{{Cite web|title = Supervisory Board - Somfy Group -|url = https://www.somfy.com/group/index.cfm?page=/group/home/finance/gouvernement/conseil_de_surveillance&language=en-en|website = www.somfy.com|access-date = 2016-01-12}}