Jean-Christophe Bédos

President and Chief Executive Officer
Birks Group Inc.

Jean-Christophe Bédos is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Birks Group Inc., formerly Henry Birks & Sons, a leading manufacturer and retailer of luxury jewelery and watchmaking since 1879 in Canada.

Mr. Bédos came to Birks from the high-end jeweler Boucheron International (Gucci Group, PPR), in Paris, France where he served as President and CEO, following a distinguished career with the Richemont Group in Paris and London and with the iconic House of Cartier. While at Boucheron (2004-2011), he was responsible for leading the company’s financial turnaround, branding strategy with specific control over design, marketing, public relations and sales, with strong international development in retail and franchising. He has also successfully opened new markets in China, Southeast Asia, Near East, Middle East and Eastern Europe. He began his career at Cartier as director of international product development for the watch division in 1988 and held several management positions in marketing and merchandising in France and the United Kingdom until 1999. He was General Manager for Cartier France and Richemont France from 2002 to 2004.

In July 2018, Birks was prized with the prestigious Brand Of the Year Award. The prestigious World Branding Awards are the premier recognition programme of the UK-based World Branding Forum. The annual event is the ultimate global brand recognition accolade and evaluates brands from around the world. The judging process involves a three-step procedure: brand evaluation, public online voting and consumer market research. Birks is the only brand to receive the award in the Retail Jewellery category, surpassing the impressive competition for its dedication and passion behind the fine jewellery brand.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Birks Group Inc. Mr. Bédos is a Member of the Board of the London Business School Global Advisory Council and of the Montreal General Hospital Foundation as Chair of the Financial Resources Allocation Committee. He was co-chair of the Bal de l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in 2013, and co-chair of the Bal du Musée McCord fundraising event in 2015. From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Bédos served on the board of the Comité Colbert in Paris. Founded in 1954, the Comité Colbert has a membership of 75 French luxury houses and 13 cultural institutions working together to promote French “art de vivre” at the international level.

In 2011 he was awarded the ‘Talent d’Or du Luxe et de la Création’. He received this prestigious French award for his outstanding performance at the helm of Boucheron for seven years.

Born in Morocco, he lived in France and England until 2011. He now resides in Montreal, Canada with his wife and four children. He is a skilled brand builder within the luxury retail sector, who brings a very relevant background having spent his entire career, for more than 30 years, within the high-end watch and jewellery industry. Mr. Bédos earned a MSc in Business Management from London Business School – Sloan Fellowship Masters Programme, with Distinctions in Marketing and Brand Management; a BA in International Commercial Law from University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne; BA (Honors) in European Business from Trent University, Nottingham, England; BA in Business Administration from Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France.