25-06-2024

Quentin Debuisschert replaces Jean Sentenac at the head of Axens

After managing the Axens Group for 22 years, Jean Sentenac handed over to Quentin Debuisschert in June 2024. The handover took place after a transition period that allowed them to ensure seamless continuity in the strategy and development of Axens, a worldwide leading energy player headquartered in France and present on all continents. Quentin Debuisschert had been managing Eurecat since 2017, also having spent nearly 20 years at Axens. His return and passing of the torch marks a new milestone in the life of this French tech ISE.

Jean Sentenac had been managing the Axens Group since 2002, shortly after this subsidiary of IFP Energies Nouvelles was created in 2001. Since then, he has worked to position Axens as a leading provider to hydrocarbon manufacturers. As such, Axens provides reliable, innovative and efficient solutions, products and processes to customers with the highest level of demand in a continuously changing energy sector.

His vision and commitment have always been focused on Axens customers’ trust and satisfaction with the solutions provided, while ensuring Axens teams' excellence and the technical progress and professional fulfillment of all its employees. For Jean Sentenac, Axens’ performance is based just as much on its ability to satisfy its customers as a real collective spirit serving the company. Prior to leading Axens, Jean Sentenac was Deputy Executive Director of the industrial division of IFP Energies Nouvelles. The Ecole Polytechnique graduate, who also has an IFP School degree in Engineering, began his career in engineering and construction at Air Liquide in Italy and Spain, before joining the Rhône-Poulenc chemical company, where he worked for ten years.

Quentin Debuisschert officially took up his new role as CEO of Axens in June 2024 after a transition period of several months. Quentin Debuisschert previously managed Eurecat, a subsidiary of Axens and Albemarle specializing in the circular economy and pre-treatment of chemical catalysts.

His appointment as the head of Axens marks his return to the company he is perfectly familiar with, having joined it in 2001 and held various positions as technical manager of licensed technologies, head of Product Lines, then Sales and Marketing Director of the company’s catalysts and adsorbents until 2017, before joining Eurecat. Having graduated from INP Ensiacet in Toulouse, the process engineer started his career in 1990 at Pechiney, then joined IFP Energies Nouvelles, mainly in R&D and engineering/project/start- up assignments.

Jean Sentenac said: "The 22 years I've spent as the head of Axens have been a fantastic industrial and human adventure, during which I have had the pleasure of seeing our customers and partners be increasingly confident in our ability to provide them with efficient products, services and technologies, and of supporting them in their energy transition and decarbonisation of their activities. Like any company story, the Axens story is based above all on a team of men and women who push the boundaries every day and are committed to helping customers. I have full confidence in Quentin Debuisschert’s ability to write new pages of Axens’ success with its employees, customers and partners, with whom I have had the privilege of working with during these years."

Quentin Debuisschert said: "After 7 years in activities focused on closed-loop or open-loop catalyst recycling, I am back at Axens, and I see that while its historical businesses are still the most important part of its business, more than ever the company is looking for the best technologies and most innovative processes to support its customers. At a time when manufacturers around the world are undergoing major transformation in terms of energy conversion, Axens has an essential role to play in evolving their manufacturing flow diagrams and developing new low-carbon economy chemical processes. The assignment I've been given is exciting and ambitious, and I intend to complete it successfully in a spirit of collective success with our employees, customers and partners."