Gwenola CHAMBON

Bio

Gwenola Chambon is CEO and founding partner of Vauban Infrastructure Partners, a management company set up in 2019 and specialising in long-term investment in major European infrastructure projects that are both innovative and in the public interest. A graduate of ESCP in 1995, Gwenola Chambon began her career in auditing before joining BNP Paribas in 1997 as a financial advisor on major infrastructure projects. She stayed in the sector for the rest of her career, working between 2004 and 2019 with some of Europe's leading players: CIFG, Galaxy Fund, and above all Mirova (Natixis). With almost €9 billion in assets under management, Gwenola has structured her company around fundamental principles, notably that of value sharing. Since it was founded, Vauban Infrastructure Partners has made it part of its DNA to involve its employees in its success. As a result, 27 of them are now an integral part of the company's capital. Gwenola is also committed to applying these principles in its investment policy. This is demonstrated by the attention paid by Vauban Infrastructure Partners to ensuring that all the stakeholders associated with each investment project derive the greatest possible benefit. In addition to these values of sharing, Gwenola Chambon has a vision of an economy that is both circular and globalised, with infrastructure that is rooted in local areas but open to the world and of lasting benefit to communities. The CEO of Vauban Infrastructure Partners embodies and implements this reconciliation of scales on a daily basis in the management of her funds, the vast majority of which are invested in Europe, France and the regions. All the investments made by Vauban Infrastructure Partners share the same ambition: to shape the future by equipping society with sustainable, low-carbon infrastructure, as in the case of Vauban's recent investment in the French district heating and cooling network company Coriance. It is this strategy that lies at the heart of Vauban Infrastructure Partners' long-term investments. Not only that, but Gwenola is also heavily involved in the challenges that underpin the infrastructure sector. In October, for the fifth year running in 2024, Vauban Infrastructure Partners will be presenting the results of its annual study, conducted in collaboration with research firm Altermind. After studying the application of digital technology in the infrastructure sector, the impact of infrastructure on the climate, the concept of the Social Licence to Operate and that of circular infrastructure, this year Vauban will be looking at inclusive infrastructure. These studies, which combine academic expertise with the participation of representatives from public authorities, banks, institutional investors and industry, are unveiled each year at a market event organised during Infraweek in Paris and Climate Week in New York. Gwenola is also strongly committed to various communities, such as her commitment to greater inclusion of women in the world of finance, which she encourages in particular through her support for the Women in Finance chair at ESCP, and by accompanying women entrepreneurs from the Les Déterminés association. She is also heavily involved with young people in the infrastructure sector, as demonstrated by the launch of a mentoring programme in partnership with the Infravenir association. Gwenola was the godmother of the first mentoring class in 2023, an initiative that ended in great success, inspiring all Vauban employees to continue mentoring in 2024.