A graduate of ESCP and Harvard, he spent a large part of his career in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He is president of Trail, an investment company he launched in 2007 under the name Fondations Capital.
You have just organized a fundraising evening which brought in more than 50,000 euros. Is this the amount you were hoping for for a first edition?
Yes, it’s even significantly beyond that. All the lots from the auction were donated to us and we benefited from contributions from patrons outside our members. This evening therefore does not unbalance the association’s accounts. But its interest is broader: we awarded a first Heritage and Music prize, launched with the French Heritage Society, created a prize dedicated to artistic crafts endowed with 25,000 euros per year, organized a subscription for several monuments… It is this abundance of initiatives which is interesting for VMF.
However, you have contacted your own members, who already pay a contribution to the VMF. Shouldn’t patronage instead seek new resources from outside?
There were also outsiders and partners at this evening. But it is perfectly normal to ask our members. They are owners or non-owners of old houses but are all passionate about heritage. Paying a contribution is already a sign of support; contributing in addition to sponsorship operations can be another. VMFs have always worked like this.
The VMF distribute around 400,000 euros in aid and prizes each year for a budget of 2 million euros. Faced with the amounts mobilized by the Heritage Foundation, do these sums not remain symbolic?
We don’t have the same model. €400,000 is far from being symbolic, and moreover, we operate in a broad field as I told you: unprotected heritage and now music and artistic crafts. Notre-Dame recalled how essential crafts were. Without know-how in stone cutting, coatings or other traditional techniques, we can no longer restore heritage.
Exactly, you multiply the prices. Doesn’t too much price end up killing prices?
I agree: you shouldn’t have too many prizes and each one should have an impact. Some will disappear, others will evolve. At the departmental or regional level, a price can have a strong local reach without being known in Paris. At the national level, however, we must focus our efforts on identifiable distinctions. This is precisely one of the objectives of our evening: to increase the notoriety of the VMF, but also that of the prizes and those we support.
You also created a prize for young heritage personalities. For what ?
We handed it over to Henri d’Anselme in the spring. The question we ask ourselves is very simple: who will be the next Stéphane Bern? Today, it occupies a magnificent, almost unique, place in the media coverage of heritage. We need to bring out new personalities. This prize does not currently have any financial endowment: its function is primarily to provide visibility.
What really distinguishes the VMF from La Demeure historique? Wouldn’t a merger be relevant?
The difference is very clear. The Historic Residence represents owners of monuments. I am a member myself and we have excellent relations with them. VMFs welcome both owners and non-owners. Above all, our associative life relies on our departmental delegations: volunteers organize visits, trips, concerts, meetings or award ceremonies. This sociability around heritage constitutes the heart of the VMF. A merger would not make sense.
When you arrived at the presidency, you declared that the VMF should have 100,000 members. You’re still at around 17,000. Was this goal unrealistic?
It is a goal that expresses an ambition. With 17,000 members, we are already the leading French heritage association, far ahead of other national associations in the sector. We have a team of around fifteen employees and around 600 volunteers. This gives us a particular responsibility: to play a unifying role at the national level while maintaining our regional and departmental levels which are essential.
The Heritage Foundation has launched a new Heritage Pass. Is it not taking on precisely this unifying role?
The Heritage Pass is a subscription giving access to sites. This is not membership in an association. We join the VMF for experience, relationships, knowledge of the places and what I call “the VMF spirit”: attachment to heritage and beauty, curiosity, the desire to learn, the demand for quality.
The historic residence has signed a partnership with the Pass Patrimoine. Why did the VMF choose not to do so, even though they had participated in Patrivia, its predecessor?
I did not know Patrivia directly, which predated my presidency. We have not signed an agreement with the Heritage Pass because it is not our mission to do so. Owners who are members of the VMF are obviously free to participate individually if they wish. We are not meant to decide for them.
