Xavier R. Rolet ’84

Xavier Rolet ‘84 is a member of the Columbia Business School Board, a Harvard University Senior Fellow, and a board member of the Yale University Center for Business and the Environment. His career includes serving as CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group, CEO of CQS Management, chairman of Phosagro PJSC, and board member at Seplat Energy Plc. 

He has also held senior positions at Goldman Sachs, First Boston, and Lehman Brothers. A tireless advocate for startups and SMEs, he was recognized by Harvard Business Review as one of the top 100 CEOs in the world. An honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments, he served as a member of the Financial Services Trade and Investment Board of HM Treasury and the Committee of Expert Advisers at the UK Department of International Trade and was a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group.

Rolet chairs the board of Shore Capital Markets and Prytek Pty Ltd, as well as serves on the boards of Saudi Tadawul Group, Wamid AS, KM Dastur Ltd, the Public Investment Fund, Towerbrook Capital Partners, and Ranchlands Inc. In addition, he is a managing partner of Grayling Centennial LLC and Red Rock Lakes LLC.

Thirty years ago, Rolet founded La Verrière, turning an abandoned Provencal priory into a home to the super-premium organic wine brand Chêne Bleu. A keen natural horseman, fly-fisherman, beekeeper, and Rally Raid racer, Rolet is currently restoring an endangered native holarctic adfluvial Arctic Grayling habitat in the Centennial Mountains, in cooperation with the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks agency. He was knighted as an honorary KBE, a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, an Officer of the Royal Sharifian Order of Al-Alawi, and an echansonnier of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Rolet holds a post-graduate degree in defense studies from IHEDN, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and an MSc from Kedge Business School.