Jacques Schnee

"I'm not talking about the good of my company; I'm talking about the good of Atlas, our entire Kingdom!"

- Jacques trying to persuade Ironwood to lift the Dust embargo Jacques Schnee (nee Gele) is an antagonist debuting in RWBY Volume 4. He is the President of the SDC (Schnee Dust Company) and the father of Winter, Weiss, and Whitley Schnee.

Background
Jacques Gele married into the Schnee family, taking their surname over his own. He later took over the company after his father-in-law, Nicholas Schnee, had to step down due to his deteriorating health. He fathered two daughters, Winter and Weiss, and one son, Whitley. Winter left to study at Atlas Academy to become a Huntress, eventually working under James Ironwood of the Atlesian Military. Weiss left to be a Huntress as well, only studying at Beacon rather than her native Atlas. Jacques was displeased at both their decisions, cutting Winter off from the family fortune entirely.

Under his leadership, the SDC began controversial business practices such as questionable partners and poor wages for their labor force, made up mostly of Faunus. The latter earned the SDC the ire of the White Fang, a militant Faunus rights group who waged war on the SDC, kidnapping and executing board members as well as targeting Schnee family and friends, making Jacques temper (particularly towards Weiss) go from bad to worse.

Beacon
At the Vytal Festival, Jacques attempts to call Weiss on her scroll, but she refuses to answer him. In turn, he cancels her credit card, cutting her off from the family fortune. Her sister Winter figures out what happened, telling Weiss to either get back in their father's good graces, or find a way to independent from him. Weiss chooses the latter.

However, after the Fall of Beacon, Jacques personally comes to Vale and brings her home to Atlas where he believes it is safe, much to Weiss's chagrin.

Atlas
Many months later, Jacques is arguing with James Ironwood over the Dust embargo he places until he makes sure the world does not declare war against Atlas. After that meeting, Jacques tells his daughter she will be performing at a charity event for the SDC.

Jacques is present at the concert and after-party with other guests connected to the SDC, buttering them up to make the SDC look favorable. After Weiss angrily berates them for not even having a clue what's going on in the outside world, her anger summons a Boarbatusk that nearly devours a party guest, were it not for the intervention of Ironwood (the only one who defends Weiss). Afterwards, Jacques locks Weiss in her room and berates her for "embarrassing" the family name. After Weiss tells him off, he revokes her status as heiress and passes it down to Whitley.

Personality
Jacques is as cold and calculating as he is ruthless. Under his leadership, the SDC went from a genuinely respectable company to a stereotypically evil corporation, refusing to pay fair wages to Faunus laborers and doing business with "questionable partners". According to Qrow Branwen, Jacques only cares about money and winning, caring more about the loss of profits from his company than the possibility of Atlas having war declared on them by the rest of the world. He originally showed some concern for his family by retrieving Weiss in the aftermath of the Fall of Beacon, but this was only a means to further use her to promote the Schnee family name. Defying him results in Jacques displaying his true angry temper, which his children have received the worst of.

Trivia

 * Like the rest of the Schnee family, his adopted surname is German for "snow".
 * Incidentally, his first speaking role was not in the original series, but actually in the manga adaptation just before Weiss leaves for Beacon.
 * He is similar to Preston Northwest;
 * Both are wealthy patriarchs whose primary concern is making money and upholding their respective family names.
 * Both are abusive towards their daughters and use extreme measures to keep them under their control (Preston uses a bell akin to that of Pavlov, while Jacques cancels Weiss's credit card).
 * Incidentally, both of their daughters, Weiss and Pacifica, were originally antagonistic towards the series' main protagonists (much moreso for Pacifica), but ended up meeting on common grounds with them and eventually becoming friends.