Delphine Nathalie Gardère is the new CEO of Rhum Barbancourt. She is the fifth generation and the second woman of Gardère family to head the Haiti’s Rum Barbancourt after her father, Thierry Gardère who has run the company for 27 years as the general Director.
Barbancourt was founded on March, 18th, 1862 by Dupré Barbancourt, Thierry Gardère’s great-great uncle who moved to Haiti from France. In the early 1950s, Barbancourt moved to expand, and built a mill to produce his own sugar cane juice. As early as 1952, the factory began to produce sugar cane rhum grown on its own plantation. In 2009, the revenue of the company was estimated to $12 million.
Delphine is born in Haiti until sixteen years old. She left to France and studied Finance in Paris. Later one she graduated from Cranfield School of Management where she studied marketing. Delphine worked for investment banks in London where she has lived for 10 years. After her master, she worked in perfumery industries for several years with luxurious international groups.
She was primarily involved in international marketing, export and distribution and she spent several months evaluating the position of the company in the markets forging links with distributors in France, the Benelux countries, Italy and England. The Haitian rhum's biggest overseas market is the United States.
In addition to being a trading company, Barbancourt foundation was created in 1998 to address core social challenges and to be an official godfather for the creative industries in Haiti. Among several social programs, farmers' literacy program, AIDS screening, donation of land for the construction of the Gheskio center, community center, University scholarship programs and scholarships for the children of employees, are the most renowned social programs financed by the foundation.
Barbancourt is known as a national patrimony for all haitians and only haitian- based product to be sold in four (4) continents and more than twenty (20) countries.