After having been chief of staff of the Prefecture of Gard for more than two years, Grégoire-Pierre Dessaux took charge of the Gard Chamber of Commerce and Industry on November 4. Interview.
Going from a role of representing the State to that of director of the CCI du Gard, is this unprecedented?
Grégoire-Pierre Dessaux: It is not an easy route, nor the most linear. But on a network scale, it's common. For example, Pascal Otheguy was secretary general of the Loire-Atlantique prefecture before becoming director general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Occitanie region (September 2024). There are at least five members of the prefectural body who are general directors of one of the few 100 CCI of France. We are increasingly invited to have mobility to change our outlook.
How did you arrive at this role?
I am responsible for my situation (laughs)! It is both a voluntary approach and an alignment of the planets. I wished continue to practice in Gard and be in the last mile of the action. The opportunity for a position at the CCI presented itself, I chose to seize it. Gard has become my favorite territory. I see a personal benefit in my new role, because it gives me a much broader vision of the economic action component. I intend to bring my knowledge of the territory to the CCI.
Exactly, what knowledge do you have of Gard?
Even though I spent more time in the Vauclusenow I tend to know Gard better. My role at prefecture – from June 2022 to October 2024 – allowed me to have a proximity role. It is a territory that I appreciate, because of its diversity and the economic issues which he presents. For example, the Rhone Gard (area around Bagnols-sur-Cèze) is the second industrial basin of Occitanie, after Toulouse. But the department also has its complexities such as poverty or unemployment. From 2014 to 2017, I was also deputy director of the Canadair aircraft transfer project from the base of Marignane (13) to that of Nîmes. This allowed me to better understand the local economic fabric of Civil Security.
What are the challenges of the CCI du Gard in the future?
The first is the new company house, whose inauguration is planned for June 2025. We wish to attach an identity of sustainable development and innovation. This site will allow us to open up new perspectives within the framework of Gard 2030 project (prospective approach with economic players in Gard to collect their ideas for the territory by 2030). In 2025, socio-economic indicators will require action and a presence of the CCI, as a contact for businesses, in the territory. For example, the use of artificial intelligence is a subject that will occupy us. We wish support businesses in the implementation of tools to increase productivity, to complement existing things, to free up time.
