Factfile

Name: Jean-Paul Claverie.

Age: 42

Background: Before joining LVMH he was a councillor to the former Socialist Culture Minister, Mr Jack Lang.

Position: Adviser to billionaire financier Mr Bernard Arnault at Moet, Hennessey, Louis Vuitton, the French conglomerate which last year had a turnover of £5.75 billion. Mr Claverie is the author of a communication strategy based on patronage of art exhibitions, scholarships for young artists and donations to medical research.

Strategy: "To express the institutional identity of LVMH through values that are shared by all of the many subsidiary companies - subsidiaries that make champagne, cognac, perfume, coulture clothing, luggage, cosmetics."