Aged 57, Jean-Yves Fontaine graduated from Paris Hospitality and Catering School and holds an MBA from the HEC business school. In 1983, he joined Générale de Restauration, which subsequently became Elior Group. Over the next few years, he was promoted up the ladder (from restaurant manager to head of operations and then regional manager) before taking up the position of CEO of Sopresthel in 2000 which he helped steer when the company was taken over by, and integrated into the Group. He was appointed Director of Healthcare catering operations for France in 2001 then became the Commercial Director of the Hôpital Services subsidiary. From 2006, as Chairman of Vivae / Alsacienne de Restauration then Ansamble, he orchestrated their integration into the Group, as well as their strategic repositioning and financial turnaround.

Aged 43, Pierre Knoché is a graduate of École centrale Paris. He started his career as a research and development engineer with Sema Group before going on to join KPMG Consulting France in 2000 as a consultant then on to Stratorg as a manager. Between 2006 and 2012, he worked with the Boston Consulting Group where, as Project Leader then Principal for the industry and services segments, he helped steer the corporate strategies and development operations of the clients. In 2012, he joined Elior Group as Group Strategy and Development Director in charge of development, business performance and innovation and defining the strategic plan. In 2015, he was appointed CEO of Elior France for the Healthcare market.