The Minister of Economy supports Christel Heydemann’s candidacy, leader of Schneider Electric in Europe, to take the reins of the operator. The Elysee has not yet made its choice.
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After two months of research, it is now time for Orange to find a new boss. His current leader, Stéphane Richard, who showed his resignation Wednesday, November 24, 2021, at the evening of his condemnation on appeal in the Capie case, must leave the group at the latest at the end of January. While the maturity approach, three names are in the balance to succeed him, a process that was still the subject of intense discussions at the top of the state, Wednesday, January 12th.
After Mr. Richard’s departure, it was decided to dissociate the functions of non-executive president and general manager (DG) of Orange. DG Research has been posted as a priority, and the operator’s selection board (CA) of the operator has retained three candidates: Ramon Fernandez, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Orange, Christel Heydemann, Director of Schneider Electric in Europe and Frank Boulben, framework at the US operator Verizon.
For the time being, the privileged scenario is that the board planned on Monday, January 24th appoints the new operational boss of the operator. But the decision goes first by the state, the first shareholder of the group with 23% of the capital and which has three seats on fifteen to CA. The three candidates were received by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno the Mayor, and had to meet the Secretary General of the Elysee, Alexis Kohler, before the end of the week. At least two of them have already seen it, according to our information.
Nothing is still active, but Christel Heydemann has already received the favors from Bercy. If the Mayor judges the three interesting profiles, he displays “a small preference” for the current Vice President of Schneider Electric, according to his entourage. Its possible appointment would also have the advantage of contributing to feminize CAC 40, which currently has only one leader (Catherine MacGregor at ENGIE), note in Bercy.
“International Profile. “
At 47 years, Christel Heydemann presents a fairly complete CV. She knows the telecoms sector for spending fifteen years at Alcatel, where she has held a variety of positions, before joining Schneider Electric in 2014, of which she became the leader for France in 2017, then for Europe in 2021 . She also has a foot at Orange as an independent administrator since 2020.
The fact that she graduated from Polytechnique and the School of Bridges and Pavements is appreciated at Orange. “Appointing an engineer, it would be a real signal for a company heavily marked by the technological culture in its history. His international profile is also a plus,” says a sector leader.
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