Jean-Charles Marchiani : the new business plan of a French anti-terrorism hero
Jean-Charles Marchiani, former member of the French secret service and anti-terrorist specialist, has worked for some of the most prominent European and French companies as a senior consulting advisor to facilitate negotiations in complex and hostile environments, especially in Asia and in the Middle East.
After more than forty years of active duty in the secret services and the French public Administration, Jean-Charles Marchiani, 66, recently retired from the public service. However he did not stay out of business and has been involved these past months in various high profile business negotiations, notably in China and Saudi Arabia.
Jean-Charles Marchiani became a national hero in France in 1988 after leading an epic rescue mission in then civil war torn Lebanon. After months of negotiations with Hezbollah leaders, he went alone with no other protection but his handgun in a Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut to free three French hostages who had been detained for more than three years. He had to face dozens of jihadists pointing their AK-47 at him but remained cool and left with the hostages.
In 1993, Jean-Charles Marchiani was also a key player in the liberation of an Air France aircraft which had been hijacked by Algerian terrorists. Negotiations with the terrorists did not work out this time and Marchiani had to send a Special Unit team to assault the aircraft. The hijackers were all killed and no civilian died or was injuried.
Two years later, in 1995, Jean-Charles Marchiani once again saved the day when he negotiated with Serbian nationalist groups the release of two French pilots whose jet had been shot down during the NATO bombings over Serbia.
Thanks to his network among former KGB, Jean-Charles Marchiani managed to get a privileged access to Serbian nationalist leaders and was able to bring the two French soldiers with him back to France.
While French official intelligence agencies actually believed the pilots had died during the crash, Marchiani first told to French president Jacques Chirac that the two men were alive. Few months later, Marchiani was appointed by Chirac as governor of the Var, a region of the South East of France.
It is now time for Marchiani to use his negotiating skills to facilitate international business operations in other regions of the world, where Western businessmen often feel helpless and disoriented.
Tags: Jean-Charles Marchiani , Business , Facilitator , Negotiation
