Jean-Erik S. de Zagon holds a master law degree and a degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium; he also holds a post-master degree in business administration from the Solvay Business School of the Free University of Brussels.
In 1987, he started his career as a trainee with the Dutch law firm Nauta Duthil (Rotterdam). The following year he joined the corporate finance department of the Banque Nagelmackers 1747 (Brussels). When this bank was acquired in 1991 by Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), he moved to BNP’s Brussels branch where, as deputy director, he managed relations with major international customers. In 1993, he joined JP Morgan in Brussels as vice-president in charge of developing investment banking activities with major customers.