Jean Francois Cecillon
JF has led organisations in a variety of fields, including music, publishing, game, live events, digital space and art.
JF’s music business career started in his birth country, France, in 1983, two years after graduating from the ISG International Business School in Paris, and a year after serving in the French Army. He worked for several companies including, Chappell Music Publishing, PolyGram Records and EMI Music France.
JF moved to London in 1990.
In 1995, he became president and CEO of EMI Records Group, UK and Ireland. He was responsible for signing Britain’s all time biggest-selling recording artist, Robbie Williams, and was closely involved with world class acts, such as Pink Floyd, Queen, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Sir Paul McCartney.
JF later became chair and CEO of EMI Music Europe, taking regional responsibility for all of the company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As chair and CEO of EMI Music International, from 2007, JF had worldwide responsibility for the company’s €1 billion business operations outside North America and the UK. He led the company’s digital transformation and carried out a £100 million cost-saving programme across 42 markets.
As SEGA Europe CEO, from 1998 to 2001, JF launched the game console Dreamcast and pioneered the alliance between football fans and gamers. He also signed pan-European sponsorship deals with prominent football clubs, including Arsenal FC in England, Saint-Etienne in France, Deportivo La Coruna in Spain and Sampdoria in Italy.
In 2003, JF became director and producer of the 46664 project, the music-led HIV/AIDS awareness-raising campaign. It was run in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, for which JF was a board director. In this role, JF co-produced the biggest concert ever in Africa, with 35 artists including, U2, Queen, Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, Yussuf Islam, Bob Geldof and Beyoncé.
At the Really Useful Group in 2009, as vice chair, JF worked closely with owner Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to bring the company into the digital age, promoting musicals and renegotiating a string of global contracts.
In 2014, as chair/CEO at EagleMoss Publishing Group, JF led a complex financial restructure, resulting in a demerger, asset sale and debt write-off while maintaining full employment of 2,000 staff.
JF has also created in 2001 his own portfolio of work, which included marketing, media investment and event production. In 2011, he created another portfolio of digital start-ups, for which he acted as board director, interim CEO and senior adviser.
Before joining AFDP Global as CEO, he was managing director at Waddington Custot Galleries Limited, one of the most prominent London-based art dealers in Europe and where he worked with many artists including Ian Davenport and Sir Peter Blake.
London-based JF is married to Catherine with three children, Jessica, Johan and Raphael. He’s a member of the Royal Automobile Club, an Arsenal season ticket holder and a member of Queen’s Club, as well as active with the entrepreneurs’ group French Connect London and Cercle d’Outre-Manche, a business think-tank. JF enjoys football, tennis, skiing, sci-fi, geopolitics, travel, and driving cars and boats.
Join Us Now
Waste no more time debating what a good man should be."Just be one"
... Marcus Aurelius
