Pierre-André de Chalendar is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and École Nationale d’Administration.  A former civil servant (Inspecteur des Finances), he served as deputy to the Director General for Energy and Raw Materials within the French Ministry of Industry.

Pierre-André de Chalendar joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1989 as Vice-President, Corporate Planning. He was subsequently Vice-President of the Abrasives business in Europe (1992-1996), President of the Abrasives business worldwide (1996-2000) and General Delegate for the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (2000-2002) before being appointed Senior Vice-President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in charge of the Building Distribution Sector in 2003.

He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 2005 and elected to the Board in 2006. Pierre-André de Chalendar was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2007 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2010. As of July 2021, he has stepped down as CEO, but continues in the role of Chairman.

Pierre-André de Chalendar is also a director of BNP Paribas. He is Vice-President of Entreprises pour l’Environnement, which he chaired from 2012 to 2015. He was appointed co-President of La Fabrique de l’industrie in July 2017 and Chairman of ESSEC Business School’s Supervisory Board since February 2019.