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Jean brings to Gen Phoenix a relentless focus on quality, culture and customer. With more than 25 years of experience in automotive component manufacturing supplying such global OEM leaders as Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz, he also brings deep manufacturing knowledge and a commitment to operational excellence. Building great teams and achieving superior customer satisfaction are how Jean defines success.
In 18 years at Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) and its successor company, Adient (NYSE:ADNT), Jean experienced increasing levels of management responsibility. As a 26 year old engineer he had complete responsibility for converting and launching a 270,000 sq ft brownsite manufacturing facility, delivering it on time and on budget. His last job there was being responsible for the Regional Change Office looking after strategic projects. Immediately prior to joining Gen Phoenix, Jean ran Tenneco’s EMEA manufacturing operations that produce Monroe shocks, the scope of which included 7 plants, 3,000 employees, thousands of SKUs and $800m in revenue – not to mention producing the sophisticated electronic shocks used in such supercars as the McLaren 750S.
True to his South African roots, Jean loves rugby and lives and dies with the Springboks. He is also an F1 Ferrari fan and avid off road enthusiast who has competed in amateur 4×4 competitions and dreams of owning his own vintage Shelby Cobra 427. That said, nothing makes him happier than an open fire braai (barbeque) under the stars with family and friends.
The son of a blacksmith whose lineage includes generations of farmers, Jean is a first generation college graduate who earned both his National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and his Management Diploma (with distinction) from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.