Founded in 1967, Rexel is a French Group which specialises in the distribution of electrical supplies, and Sebastien Thierry is the current general secretary of the company, having joined in December 2014 as the group general counsel. In November 2016 he was appointed general secretary and secretary of the board of directors, and member of the executive committee.

During his time at Rexel, Thierry takes pride in having convinced his peers at the group executive committee ‘that there is no good performance without good governance’. From 2009 to 2014, Thierry was general counsel and compliance officer at Airbus Defence and Space CIS (Communication, Intelligence and Security). His first overseas position was as a legal counsel in Jakarta in 1998 for Alcatel, where he spent a large part of his career, serving as the sole counsel. Upon his return to France in 1999, he was in charge of legal affairs for the Segment Sol business unit of Alcatel Space.

In 2004, Thierry joined Alcatel Shanghai Bell as vice president legal affairs. Three years later he was promoted to Southeast Asian vice president legal affairs for Alcatel Lucent where he was instrumental in the implementation of the merger of Alcatel-Lucent and its integration project.