The Board of the European DIY-Retail Association (EDRA), the Global Home Improvement Network (GHIN) and the European Federation of DIY Manufacturers (fediyma) are delighted to announce that Damien Deleplanque of ADEO has been selected to receive the industry’s Global DIY-Lifetime Award 2018 to be held on 13 June 2018 at the Global DIY Summit in Barcelona.

Starting from humble beginnings in 1979, Damien Deleplanque was appointed Store Department Manager of a Leroy Merlin store. In 1980, he became a Store Manager of a 1.500 sq. metres store in Granges Les Valence in southern France, later taking over a 6.000 sq. metres store in St. Genevieve des Bois, near Paris. In 1993, Damien was appointed CEO of Leroy Merlin and performed this position until 2005 when he became CEO of Groupe ADEO. The former Leroy Merlin Group was changed to Groupe ADEO when the group implemented several brands in France and abroad.

Mr Deleplanque, who mainly focuses on human resources, created and launched the so called “Management Process Vision” which is credited to have been one of the major management elements that has brought much success to ADEO and has paved its path to become the leading home improvement company in Europe and the third largest around the world. At the end of 2017, ADEO employed 105.000 associates in 12 countries. Back in 1994, ADEO reported sales of €1,7 billion. Last year their total sales reached €22 billion.