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"Les figues ne doivent pas etre déchirées, fendues..."
temps de présence
May 4, 2020 16:34
4 yrs ago
63 viewers *
French term

gérant président

Non-PRO French to English Bus/Financial Business/Commerce (general)
In a list of company names. Source language is Swiss French. If you could also
let me know if a person with this title is considered a director, that would be
great. Thanks.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +6 Managing Director/Chairman
5 -1 Managing director/partner
4 -1 Shareholder and Chairman
References
Swiss Sarl
Change log

May 5, 2020 09:21: Jennifer White changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (1): Wolf Draeger

Non-PRO (3): Yvonne Gallagher, Rachel Fell, Jennifer White

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Discussion

Scott de Lesseps (asker) May 22, 2020:
Thanks to everyone Thanks to everyone for your help, and sorry for the delay in getting back to this question. Things have been so wacky lately. Stay safe everyone!
AllegroTrans May 5, 2020:
Also If you have a whole list of job titles you cannot really be expected to produce "one fit" answers. Try checking the Swiss companies' websites and/or company search results for English titles
Wolf Draeger May 5, 2020:
It depends On what your client prefers and why they want those files translated. There's no difference between the two, but I think nowadays the US C-suite is more international than the UK XYZ-Director equivalents—although for some vague reason MD seems more appropriate to me for a small company than CEO, which for the same vague reason conjures up the boss of a medium to big firm. However, the use of terms like CAO and EVP on your client's website suggests they want US lingo.

In short: I dunno! I'd run both options by the client if possible, and also check that this really IS the MD/CEO.
Scott de Lesseps (asker) May 5, 2020:
Thanks Thanks Wolf and AllegroTrans! Since "Managing Director" is getting so many agrees, do you think that could possibly work for US English too.
AllegroTrans May 5, 2020:
Strongly suggest Checking if this company has preferred English titles for its bosses. They may even have an English translation of these titles on their website - many Swiss companies do
Wolf Draeger May 5, 2020:
This is why I hate translating job titles! Unless you know what the person's duties and responsibilities are, it often ends up being little more than guesswork.

From what I can tell, associé in Swiss company law is simply the term for the peeps setting up a company and owning all or part of it; partners in the loose sense of the word (business partners) but not in the legal sense (partnership with unlimited liability). So you can probably scrap partner.

Also, if this is a private company, strictly speaking there are no directors in the sense of a BOD overseeing the company on behalf of public shareholders because there are no public shareholders and hence no BOD. So you can probably scrap director as well, unless you opt for Managing Director (more of a UK term).

If this is a small company (only three gérants?), then I'd avoid EVP, which is doled out like candy in large corporations to soothe the bristling egos of subexecutives.

I'd go with CEO, but CAO (or COO) might also be right if the person isn't the boss. Are you able find that out?
Scott de Lesseps (asker) May 5, 2020:
Some more info: Thanks for your reply, Wolf. I have since come across the same term in another file (there is a batch of files). It is in a list of company employees under the heading "Partners, managers and people having signing capability". So from that, it looks like he is probably not considered a director. Although when I look the same person up on the company web site, it gives three different titles for him: Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. In that same list, there are two people listed as just "gérant", and one as "associé". I would post his name, but I'm hesitant to do that for confidentiality reasons. I'm translating into US English. Hope this helps.
Wolf Draeger May 4, 2020:
More context @Asker, do you have any more information about the company or the holder of that position? Are other positions in the same company also listed? Are you translating into US or UK English?
Scott de Lesseps (asker) May 4, 2020:
Limited Liability Company Hi Cathy, Thanks for your reply. It's an SARL (Limited Liability Company).
Cathy Rosamond May 4, 2020:
Company legal status Hello, could you please indicate the company legal type? Otherwise it is difficult for anyone to give an accurate answer. Thanks.

Proposed translations

+6
1 hr
Selected

Managing Director/Chairman

Are you sure there isn't supposed to be a slash ('/') in between the titles, i.e. gérant/président? In that case, it would be Managing Director/Chairman. It would indicate that the person serves both as the Managing Director and the Chairman of the Board.

I don't think there is a title such as gérant président per se. There is directeur général, however.
Note from asker:
Thanks for your suggestion. It's showing in the document as "gérant président" (no slash or hyphen).
Peer comment(s):
agree AllegroTrans : The usual wording (at least for UK) is "chairman and managing director"
21 mins
Thank you. I like your suggestion too.
agree EirTranslations
28 mins
Thanks for the feedback! :-)
agree Wolf Draeger : Just Managing Director (or CEO)—assuming there are other managers in the company.
3 hrs
Thanks for the feedback. I initially thought of Managing Director or CEO, but then I thought it perhaps denoted his two roles of "Chairman" and "Managing Director." Without more context and the name of the person to investigate, it's not 100% certain.
agree Yvonne Gallagher : Managing Director (or CEO). Some companies have or prefer specific titles so always best to check with them
6 hrs
Thanks for the feedback, Yvonne!
agree Cathy Rosamond : That's the best translation for me. Managing Director (not CEO) and Chairman.
7 hrs
Thanks for the feedback, Cathy!
agree Lyle Translations
15 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
-1
2 mins

Managing director/partner

They are part of the comapny board

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2020-05-04 16:38:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes, They are considered as directors.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2020-05-04 18:25:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I was not aware that it was an Ltd. Well, managing director will do. In the US we talk about managing partner
Peer comment(s):
disagree AllegroTrans : A partner is a member of a partnership, but not of a company//no, partners is not a term ever used for the members of a limited company - look it up and see
1 hr
They can be.
agree Youssef Chabat : Director is good, as you said it first.
3 hrs
disagree Yvonne Gallagher : partner is wrong
7 hrs
Something went wrong...
-1
7 hrs

Shareholder and Chairman

The Swiss GmbH (german term) is the same as the Swiss Sàrl (Swiss French term).

https://sigtax.com/en/governing-bodies-swiss-gmbh

"The shareholders' meeting is led by the chairman of the management board."

The Chairman is the Chief Managing Director.

Reference:

https://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/search?source=auto&query=shareholder+Chairman

Peer comment(s):
disagree Yvonne Gallagher : shareholder is not the equivalent of a gérant
10 mins
Oops! You're right.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

5 hrs
Reference:

Swiss Sarl

If gérant is manager and président is the head of the company, then putting the two together gives you Managing Director or CEO. The FR is a bit redundant but that's not unusual (witness administrateur et président du conseil in the financial documentation of many a FR multinational).

A Sarl is a private company (unlisted, shares not traded), so chairman and board are best avoided, I think. Under Swiss law the owners (associés) and managers (gérants) of a company can be the same or different person(s). No doubt a nice tangle of thick weeds to dive into if you care :-)

http://www.lpg-fiduciaire-de-suisse.ch/fr/publications/droit...
http://www.ma-societe.ch/fr/tout-sur-les-societes/la-sarl/la...

https://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/19110009/...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 5 hrs (2020-05-05 21:56:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

More about CAO and LLC job titles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_administrative_officer
'In some companies, the CAO is also the president.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_title
'Limited liability company (LLC)-structured companies are generally run directly by their members, but the members can agree to appoint officers such as a CEO or to appoint "managers" to operate the company. American companies are generally led by a CEO. In some companies, the CEO also has the title of "president".'

As an aside, in the 2nd link "members" is used in the same way as associés in Swiss company law, i.e. the owners of a business.

See also https://smallbusiness.chron.com/llc-president-ceo-17385.html
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_limited_company

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_%C3%A0_responsabilit%C3%A9_limit%C3%A9e#Appointment_of_leaders

Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Yvonne Gallagher
2 hrs
agree Michael Grabczan-Grabowski : I agree with just using Managing Director in that case. Thanks for the info.
3 hrs
agree AllegroTrans
3 days 18 hrs
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