 He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 to 2012 and led the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2012.Born in Maulévrier in Maine-et-Loire, Jean-Marc Ayrault is the son of Joseph Ayrault, from Maulévrier, formerly an agricultural worker who was subsequently employed in a textile factory, and of Georgette Uzenot, a former seamstress who later became a full-time housewife.His early schooling was at the St Joseph Catholic primary school in Maulévrier, after which, between 1961 and 1968, he attended the Lycée Colbert, in Cholet.