Olivier Colleau had no aspirations to be a career consultant, but after he graduated from HEC Paris, he joined Bain and Company to consult on strategy and management. A decade later he moved to Zodiac Marine, before being head-hunted by Kiloutou, where he was promoted and eventually made CEO.
Training:
Olivier Colleau studied at, and graduated from HEC Paris, but did not continue further education.
Career:
In 1995, upon graduating from HEC, Colleau immediately joined the consulting firm Bain and Company, in the role of strategy and management consultant. Ten years later, he took the lead for development at the Marine division of Zodiac Marine & Pool, a company best known for producing rigid hull inflatable boats and outboard engines.
In 2009, he was headhunted by Kiloutou. While the rental company’s profile did not match perfectly to Colleau’s preferences, he considered it nonetheless. At the same time, Zodiac Marine & Pool was being restructured, and the atmosphere at the company changed in the wake of the financial crisis. Having felt good about the interviews with Kiloutou, Colleau decided to go ahead and join them as Director of Strategy and Development. In 2011 he took over management of the network, and in 2016 he was appointed to Managing Director of Kiloutou France. Finally, in 2017, he was made Chief Executive Officer of the Kiloutou Group.
Anecdotes
Consulting was not a route that Colleau ever saw himself taking. As a child he imagined being a fisherman or a diver, but chose to join Bain and Company in 1995 because of the “diversity of challenges” offered. It was after one particular assignment in a car rental firm that lasted about 12 months and where he found himself quite depressed on completion, that Colleau realized he wanted to permanently continue the career he had started in consulting.
