Bernard Petit

Bernard began his career on the client side in Marketing and Sales for Unilever France where, from 1971 to 1985, he gained a solid experience with all key issues, strategies and operations, local and international, for leading consumer goods brands.

Moving to the agency world in 1986, he spent 15 years on this side of the business, as CEO of Ecom agency (Havas Group) then as President/CEO (1989-1996) of Grey Paris, dealing with world-class clients such as P&G, Mars, SmithKline-Beecham, Canon, Kraft. He joined McCann Erickson Worldwide from 1997 to 2000, as Senior VP, Worldwide Account Director on Nestlé.

Capitalising on his dual experience, in May 2000 Bernard acquired VT Scan, the leading agency search and selection organisation in France, established in 1978, and ran the business for 10 years, working for all types of businesses and sizes of clients (FMCG, Durable goods, luxury, services, retail, BTB, Non-profit, etc.). At the end of 2010, he sold the company to his partners.

At VT Scan, he was a founding partner of SCAN INTERNATIONAL, a multi-local Communication Management Consultancy created in 2005 to service international clients

During his agency years, as a member of the Board of the AACC (French Agencies professional association), he had the opportunity to work on advertising industry key issues such as competition rules and quality delivery.

A graduate of the HEC Paris Business School and an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (PMD), Bernard also served as President of the International Advertising Association’s French chapter from 1999 to 2010.

Bernard is married and has two children.