Joly, 51, previously served as president and chief executive officer of CWT. Under his leadership, CWT grew its sales from USD 8.9 billion in 2003 to USD 25.5 billion in 2007. He is now chair of the CWT board of directors. He also is vice chair of the Rezidor Hotel Group board of directors, and serves on the Carlson board of directors and the Polo Ralph Lauren board of directors.

With broad international experience, Joly came to CWT from Vivendi Universal, where he was a member of the executive team that led the company's recovery, serving as executive vice president with responsibility for overseeing the company's American assets. Previously, he was chief executive officer of Vivendi Universal Games, the video games division of Vivendi Universal, headquartered in Los Angeles. Before joining Vivendi, Joly worked in the technology sector from 1996 to 1999 as vice president of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Europe and president of EDS France. Prior to joining EDS, he was a consultant and then a partner with McKinsey & Company from 1982 to 1996, and specialized in the high-tech sector, working in the firm's San Francisco, New York and Paris offices.

Joly is a business administration graduate of HEC Paris and a public administration graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. He recently became a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He also is a member of the executive committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council, serves on the board of trustees of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and recently became a member of the executive committee of the Minnesota Business Partnership. He was honored as one of the 25 Most Influential Executives of the Business Travel Industry (2006) by Business Travel News magazine. He was also elected a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum (Davos, 1997).