Born in 1957, Jacques Damas graduated from École Centrale Paris and began his career at SNCF in 1982 as head of Melun station, southeast of Paris. He subsequently held a range of operational manager roles in several SNCF regions. In 1996 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to the SNCF Chairman, Louis Gallois, and in 1998 was named Managing Director of Compagnie Nouvelle de Conteneurs, the SNCF container train operator at that time.

In October 2000, he was appointed Eurostar COO and Deputy CEO, a position he held until 2005. In September that year, he returned to SNCF as Chief Operating Officer. In 2006, he joined SNCF’s Executive Committee and in 2009 was appointed Managing Director for Rail Safety and Quality.

From September 2012 to January 2014, Jacques Damas was SNCF Deputy CEO.

In 2014, he joined Keolis as Executive Director in charge of developing an overall Safety, Operation & Maintenance and CSR strategy. 

In October 2020 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Eurostar, where he successfully led the company through the severe Covid-19 downturn, and merged the Eurostar and Thalys HST operators into the unified Eurostar Group in May 2022. 

In October 2022, he joined SNCF SA, the Group’s holding company, under Chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou. As a member of the SNCF Group Executive Committee, he plays a key role in several strategic areas, particularly in service quality and rail system performance. He is also in charge of temporary assignments, including overseeing Group-wide preparation and delivery of rail services for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, and integrating improvements into SNCF’s long-term operations. Since 1 July 2025, he has served as Acting Director of Risks, Audits, Safety and Security for SNCF Group.