About us

MERIT is an initiative for corporate and L&D leadership, launched in 2016. Our mission is to create a community that brings together people and knowledge. Leveraging individual experiences, business intelligence, and academic and non-academic research, we aim to empower leaders and their organisations to reach strategic goals and make the most of in-house potential through learning, exchange and benchmarking.

In 2019, building on the success of our four global and regional summits, we have launched the MERIT Leadership Community (MLC). Thus, we are responding to the desire of MERIT event participants to keep the spirit of the summits alive and take the learning and collaborative experience to a global scale throughout the year. Membership is now open for the first 200 interested key Learning and Development leaders and HR and C-level executives of large multinational companies in Europe and Asia.

MERIT is a corporate services initiative of Advent Group, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2019, an independent media group with offices in Europe, North America and Asia (soon) and global operations. Under the motto “Where corporate and higher education leaders meet”, MERIT builds on Advent Group’s proprietary flagship expertise -- personalised events for connecting professionals, higher education institutions, and companies from all over the world, based on their best match of expertise and potential for collaboration in learning, development and leadership growth.

Our Team

Advent Group’s team of over 150 dedicated and enthusiastic professionals is committed to ensuring a worthwhile experience for all MERIT members and event participants, sourcing engaging and practical expert content, and organising enriching face-to-face and online events.

All team members are devoted to supporting you in your quires and finding collaborative solutions for your business needs. You can contact us at info@meritsummit.com

Christophe Coutat
CEO and Founder
Advent Group

Christophe founded Advent Group in April 2004. Having obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from La Sorbonne and a Masters in Marketing from CNAM in Paris, he gained experience in Communications before joining the top international media agency Publicis. Christophe’s perseverance and caring attitude led to a series of promotions in Sales Management specialised in Human Resources.

Christophe is the constant source of innovative ideas within MERIT’s management team, and he leads with passion, attention to detail, and understanding of people. Had he not become an entrepreneur, he would have liked to write novels and challenge Novak Djokovic on a tennis court.

Rumy Le Gal
Programmes & Content

Rumy joined Advent Group in 2016 to contribute to the successful launch of the first MERIT Summit. Her next frontier was taking the MERIT Summit to Asia for the first time. In 2018, she assumed the role of Programme & Content Manager, responsible for ensuring compelling expertise, speakers and content for all MERIT and MLC events.

Rumy’s professional experience spans Europe and the Middle East. She holds a degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the American University in Bulgaria. She enjoys travelling and intercultural communication and exploration.