La Glass Vallée has appointed Stéphane Franconville as its President.

Mr Franconville was unanimously elected by the Board of Directors as President of the French glass association.

He succeeds Valérie Tellier, who held the position for 20 years.

Mr Franconville will bring more than 20 years’ experience in commercial, industrial, financial and human resources management to the role.

He said: "It is a great honour for me to have been appointed President of La Glass Vallée, of which I have been Vice-President since its creation.

“The expertise, commitment and passion of the people who make up this sector make it a key player in the luxury bottle industry in a rich and complete ecosystem.

“It is also with great pride that I will contribute to the development of La Glass Vallée, its people and its know-how, which covers all the trades from the design to the complete manufacture of a bottle.”

With an initial training as a Mechanical Engineer, at French engineering school Arts et Métiers, Mr Franconville is accustomed to working internationally and has held various positions of high responsibility in the SME environment.

He worked for many years as Managing Director of a group of SMEs in the region, before taking over and developing the companies Somobresle, Les Mouleries de la Bresle, and Meca Moules Services, which specialise in the design and manufacture of tools for glass.

The three companies work together under the Meca-Glass Group banner, whose head office is located in the heart of La Glass Vallée.

Mr Franconville aims to promote the sector, not only in the region, but also nationally and internationally to ensure its development.

He said: “Our shared ambition is simple: to provide an irreproachable quality of service to our customers with offers adapted to their sector of activity, whether it is luxury bottles, cosmetics, spirits, pharmaceuticals and para-pharmacies with ever more technique, innovation, and above all with our ancestral know-how, and excellence.”

Employment, training and recruitment are priorities, as are sustainable development focused on the circular economy, the environmental footprint of activities and the quality of relations between the players in the ecosystem that La Glass Vallee forms.

This includes events such as the Job and Training Fair, which will take place on November 14, as well as the third edition of the Night of Glass in Paris on December 3, 2024.