Jerry Tardieu is currently a congressman representing the district of Petion-Ville, Haiti. He is currently the Chairman of a Legislative Special Commission in charge of proposing constitutional reforms to Haiti’s lower Chamber. Before getting elected, Jerry Tardieu was a dynamic entrepreneur profoundly involved in Haiti’s economic, social, academic and political life.
In his two years in parliament, Congressman Tardieu already submitted three important bills. One introducing leasing as a new financial tool in the banking system, one about reorganisation modernisation of the Haitian police force and one about haitian citizenship. He has played a key role as the minority leader in his first year as a congressman.
While in the the private sector, Jerry Tardieu has served as the CEO of many Haitian enterprises in various sectors ranging from the shoe industry to real estate and hospitality. Until early 2014, Jerry Tardieu was the co-owner, co-founder and CEO of Royal Oasis Hotel, one of Haiti’s flagship upscale hotel.
Jerry Tardieu is also the founder of “Kolektif Abitan Petyonvil,” a broad civic organization which provides a forum to Pétion-ville residents, with an eye on identifying and brainstorming on the issues plaguing the city.
Jerry Tardieu was educated at Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague, in Port-au-Prince. He later completed a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the Université Européenne de Bruxelles before capping his studies with a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in economics at Harvard University.
Throughout his life, mostly because of his academic background and professional experience, Jerry Tardieu has been regularly consulted for the structuring of private/public partnerships. In the year 2000, as the Vice-president of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he often represented the Haitian private sector in mixed delegations travelling overseas to various international forums, conferences and seminars.
Jerry Tardieu has authored many books on Haiti and its developmental challenges. In 2006, he published “Haiti: l’Avenir en Face,” a successful essay. In 2014, he published “Investir et s’Investir en Haïti: Un Acte de Foi,” another bestseller in Haiti and the diaspora.
Jerry Tardieu often intervenes as a speaker at local and foreign universities. His public addresses are often the object of articles and other publications. He is one of the rare Haitian entrepreneurs to engage Haiti’s society on issues of public policy in his writings. The quest for modernity and the necessity of a paradigm change within the Haitian elite are recurrent themes in his writings.
Numerous organizations have, through the years, bestowed a slew of impressive awards on Jerry Tardieu. For instance, very young, he received the ‘’Jeune Entrepreneur de l’Année (1993 Young Entrepreneur of the Year) ‘’ award from Haiti’s Ministry of National Education, Youth, Sports and Civic Service. In 2011, he was the co-recipient, with Wyclef Jean, of the “Aksyon Visionary Award.”
Jerry Tardieu was Vice President of a media group that owns Le Matin, a centenarian newspaper, and radio MBC.
He is a father of four and lives in Port-au-Prince with his wife Johanne.