Antoine Raymond - Président de l'entreprise ARaymond® et administrateur des sociétés Chartreuse®

I am Antoine Raymond, president of the family business A. Raymond, founded 157 years ago in 1865 by my great-grandfather. He started with an invention: a self-piercing hook, then invented the snap button in 1886, which brought international renown. Today, A. Raymond has about 8,000 employees in 26 countries, primarily serving the automotive industry, though we are exploring new markets in health, solar panel fastening, and agriculture. Our core is industrial expertise in fastening and assembly. My personal mission has been ensuring the company's longevity across generations. I represent the fifth generation of leaders, and the sixth is preparing. For us, long-term means developing things that have strong positive impacts over decades, not just short-term gains. The key to long-term success is taking care of people first—employees, then customers, and finally shareholders. Transmission is global: passing on know-how and expertise that has been refined over 157 years. Each generation contributes its own talent and adapts to change, but the chain of knowledge must be preserved. I have a deep personal connection to Chartreuse, the liqueur, since childhood. My mother hosted monks from the monastery, and later I worked in Chartreuse's Paris office, helping out. I became a board member of Chartreuse Diffusion in 1992. I admire how Chartreuse is built on long-term relationships, both with employees who often spend their entire careers there and with the monks as shareholders—no investment funds. There is a special culture: board meetings begin with a blessing, and there is extraordinary pride and loyalty. The product itself is more than a liqueur; it's an ancestral state of mind, a handcrafted miracle of high quality. The similarities between A. Raymond and Chartreuse are clear: both are focused on sustainability and the long term, both rely on deeply engaged people, both have know-how transmitted across generations, and both prioritize people first—employees, then customers, then shareholders—to ensure lasting success.