The Board of Directors expresses its thanks to the Group’s Governance and Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility committee, which oversees appointments, along with the lead independent Director, for conducting a rigorous selection process.
The Board is also proposing to modify the Company’s statutes in order to allow a Chairman reaching 70 years of age during his mandate to complete his term of office, the duration of Directors’ mandates at Orange being four years. All other rules with regard to age limits will remain unchanged.
The Board passed two other resolutions in respect of the Group’s governance. Firstly, it proposed the nomination as Director of Valerie Beaulieu-James, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and Executive Committee member of the Adecco Group. She will succeed Helle Kristoffersen who is leaving the Board after 11 years and during which time she has taken part in its work with tireless application and has brought to its deliberations throughout her mandate her considerable expertise, in particular in the domain of technology.
The Board also resolved, following a proposal by Christel Heydemann who takes up her role as Chief Executive Officer of Orange on 4 April 2022, to renew the mandate of Ramon Fernandez as Delegate CEO, his current mandate ending on 4 April in the context of the separation of roles. In this role, he will continue to bring his expertise and experience to the Group.
Stéphane Richard, Chairman and Chief Executive of Orange commented: “I wish every success to the tandem formed by Christel Heydemann and Jacques Aschenbroich which will be proposed to shareholders at the next AGM. Two experiences and two sources of energy serving the responsible development of this magnificent Group that I am happy to have served with passion these past twelve years”.
Christel Heydemann, Board member and Orange’s future Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted at the decision of the Board to propose Jacques Aschenbroich as the Chairman of Orange. I’m sure that his long experience on matters of governance will bring much of value to the Group and I’m certain that his international experience and profound knowledge of industry will allow us to write a new chapter in Orange’s rich history together”.
Biography of Jacques Aschenbroich
Jacques Aschenbroich is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Valeo. Prior to this he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Valeo Group from March 2009 to February 2016, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until January 2022. His extensive experience has been gained in senior roles in major industrial groups, in France and internationally, and also in senior roles in the French public administration.
Prior to joining Valeo, having graduated as an engineer from the Corps des Mines, he held a number of roles in the French public administration and served in the Prime Minister’s office in 1987 and 1988. He then pursued his career at the Saint-Gobain group between 1988 and 2008. After heading the group’s businesses in Brazil and Germany, he became Managing Director of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain’s Flat Glass division (Saint-Gobain Vitrage) of which he became Chairman in 1996. Then, as Senior Vice President of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain from October 2001 to December 2008, he managed the flat glass and high-performance materials sectors from January 2007 and, as the Vice-Chairman of Saint-Gobain Corporation and General Delegate to the United States and Canada, he led the company’s US operations from 1 September 2007.
Jacques Aschenbroich is a former Board member of Veolia Environnement and is currently a Board member of BNP Paribas and of TotalEnergies. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Mines ParisTech and Co-President of the Franco-Japanese Business Club.
