Jean-Luc Barbanneau graduated from the Sorbonne but has lived and worked in the UK since 1970. He has had wide experience of educational, general, children's, reference and electronic publishing at senior management level. Until 1992 he was Publisher and Deputy Managing Director of Harrap Publishing Group where he was instrumental in the development of their dictionary and reference list, including one of the first international dictionary projects on CD-ROM. He has worked as a consultant for major British, American and French publishers, and has lectured on management, marketing and electronic publishing at Oxford Brookes University.
As Managing Director of Websters International Publishers, with particular responsibility for the development of Websters Multimedia division, he has overseen the international expansion of the company's activities, including the setting up of a French subsidiary (Websters France) in Paris, as well as editorial offices in Milan, Madrid and Munich in partnerships with local companies and in 2006, the creation of a US subsidiary, Websters Multimedia Inc., based in Bellevue, Washington State. He is president of Websters France SAS and of Websters Multimedia Inc.