In 1971 he joined
Kraft Foods. During his 24-year career at the group he had experience of working in 30 countries and performed a number of operational, strategic and financial management roles, including the successful acquisition and integration of the Jacob/Suchard companies into Kraft in 1990. He became CEO of the
Kraft Jacobs Suchard French and later Italian operations. Luc joined
Promodès in 1995, eventually becoming its CEO, replacing the French billionaire
Paul-Louis Halley. He was a driving force behind the merger of Promodès with
Carrefour announced in August 1999 and was appointed vice chairman. He headed the integration of the two companies but left Carrefour in 2000 to join M&S. He returned in 2005 for two years as chairman of the supervisory board, orchestrating a complete overhaul of the management structure. In 1998,
Marks & Spencer was the UK's most profitable retailer, making more than £1.1bn in profit. By 2000 its share price had halved from 1998. In 2001 it made £145m in profit. Luc was chairman of Marks & Spencer from February 2000 until May 2004. Known internally as
Cool Hand Luc; during his time at Marks & Spencer he was responsible for restoring the company's performance, initially through a major restructuring programme, followed by a series of growth initiatives such as the launch of
Per Una, Blue Harbour, the
Simply Food format and the introduction of the "&more" credit and loyalty card. In March 2000 he dropped the
St Michael logo and rebranded as Marks & Spencer. Luc was senior independent director of
Vodafone and chairman of the Remuneration Committee. He retired from the Vodafone Board in September 2015 following 12 years as a non-executive director. Luc was a board member of bank
Société Générale until May 2012 Luc is the founder and chairman of Change Capital Partners, a specialist private equity firm focused on consumer-related businesses. Among companies successfully exited are
Jil Sander;
Hillarys Blinds; Hallhuber and Macduff Shellfish. He is chairman of the
Majid Al Futtaim Group Ventures Board, based in Dubai. ==Personal life==