Board of directors
Missions and roles of the board of directors
The Board of Directors determines the broad lines of the Company's business activities and ensures these are implemented. The Board reviews all issues concerning the Company's operations and acts on all matters over which it has authority.
The Board's strategy and decisions are made within the context of the Company's sustainable development policy.
DIRECTOR'S CHARTER
In keeping with its corporate governance responsibilities, the Board of Directors has adopted a Directors' Charter, which has been integrated into the internal regulations. This Directors' Charter sets forth the rights and obligations of the Directors and is binding upon each Director.
MEMBERS OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors comprises no less than three members and no more than the maximum number of members authorized by the applicable legal and regulatory provisions.
The Board of Directors currently has 12 members, namely:
Angeles Garcia-Poveda
Chairwoman of the Board of Directors since July 1st, 2020 and member of the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee
Spanish citizen
Angeles Garcia-Poveda has been Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Legrand since July 2020. Prior to this appointment, she was Lead Director from 2013 having been elected to the Board of the World Specialist in Electrical and Digital Building Infrastructures in 2012. Angeles Garcia-Poveda is also a member of the Worldwide Board of Spencer Stuart. In 2008, she joined the executive search consulting firm becoming Managing Director for France in 2011 before being appointed Managing Director EMEA and member of the Global Executive Committee. Angeles Garcia-Poveda began her career at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where she worked for 14 years as a strategy consultant and then as head of global recruitment. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the AdVini wine group and the board of directors of the IFA.
Olivier Bazil
Director of Legrand since 2002 and member of the Nominating and Governance Committee and the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee
French citizen
Olivier Bazil joined Legrand in 1973 as Deputy Company Secretary, in charge of financial communication and development of the Group’s growth strategy. He became Chief Financial Officer of Legrand Group in 1979, Deputy Chief Operating Officer in 1993, then held the position of Vice-Chairman and Chief Operating Officer from 2000 until 2011.
Olivier Bazil also holds the following positions: Member of the Supervisory Board of Michelin and Société Civile du Château Palmer, and Chairman of Fritz SAS.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod
Independent Director of Legrand since 2016 and member of the Audit Committee and of the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee
French citizen
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod started her career in 1991 in the International Paper Group as industrial activities Manager of the cardboard division in the United States, then in the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2001, before becoming Head of the strategic development for Europe until 2004. She was nominated as Vice-Executive President of the Sequana Group in 2008 and Executive Officer of the Arjowiggings Group in 2009. She is also a photographer and an author.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod is, since 2014, a Director of Arkema and the Paprec Group. She is also a Director of Sequana since 2016.
Christel Bories
Independent Director of Legrand since 2012, Chairman of the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee and member of the Audit Committee
French citizen
Christel Bories began her career in 1986 as a strategy consultant with Booz-Allen & Hamilton before moving to Corporate Value Associates. She subsequently held several executive positions with Umicore, then Pechiney Group. Christel Bories was then appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alcan Packaging, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alcan Engineered Products and finally Chief Executive Officer of Constellium (ex Alcan), which she left in December 2011. She was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ipsen in February 2013 until March 2016.
Christel Bories is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eramet since 2017. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Smurfit Kappa since 2012.
Benoît Coquart
Director of Legrand since July 1st, 2020
French citizen
Benoît Coquart joined Legrand immediately after completing his studies in 1997, to manage the Group's activities in South Korea. He subsequently took charge of Investor Relations and pursued his career within the Group by successfully holding several positions including that of Vice-President of Corporate Development (M&A), Executive Vice-President Strategy and Development, and Executive Vice-President France. Benoît Coquart has been a member of Legrand's Executive Committee since 2010 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2018. He becomes Director of Legrand since July 1st, 2020.
Edward A. Gilhuly
Independent Director of Legrand since May 30, 2018 and member of the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee
American citizen
Edward A. Gilhuly worked at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) for 19 years.
Since 2006, Edward A. Gilhuly is a founding partner of Sageview Capital, LP, an investment fund which manages over $1.5 billion’s worth in assets and provides growth capital to small and medium sized businesses in the technology and commercial services sectors.
Edward A. Gilhuly is currently a Director of Avalara, Demandbase, Exaro Energy III, and MetricStream. He is also a trustee of Duke University and has chaired the Board of Directors of Duke Management Company since 2014. He is as well a trustee emeritus of the California Academy of Sciences.
Philippe Jeulin
Director representing employees since June 26, 2018
French citizen
Philippe Jeulin joined Legrand in 1985 after working at Enertec Schlumberger and at GMF. Until 2015, he successively held various positions at Legrand, in particular within the IT and the Human Resources Department. He is currently seconded to the Rector of the Limoges Academy, in the framework of the School-Business academic mission.
He was also the originator and referent teacher of the “Company IT Engineer” program for the CNAM Limousin from 1988 to 2015.
Philippe Jeulin took office as director representing employees on the Board of Directors of Legrand on June 26, 2018, upon expiry of his office as director representing employees on the Board of Directors of Legrand France, the French subsidiary of Legrand.
Patrick Koller
Independent Director of Legrand since May 30, 2018 and member of the Nominating and Governance Committee
French and German citizen
Patrick Koller joined Faurecia Group in 2006 as Executive Vice-President of the Business Group Faurecia Automotive Seating (now entitled Faurecia Seating), a position he held until February 2, 2015. During this period, he held a variety of mandates in subsidiaries of Faurecia Group, including Faurecia (China) Holding Co., Ltd., Faurecia Components Pisek, S.r.o. (Czech Republic), Faurecia Automotive GmbH (Germany), and Faurecia NHK Co., Ltd. (Japan). On February 2, 2015, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations, a position he held until June 30, 2016. Since 2016, Patrick Koller is Chief Executive Officer of Faurecia Group.
He has also held senior management positions in several other major industrial companies. (at Valeo as Managing Director, Engine Cooling Europe Division until 2000 and at Rhodia as Managing Director of Polyamide Intermediates until 2003 then as Group Industrial and Purchasing Director until 2006).
Michel Landel
Independent Director of Legrand since May 29, 2019, Lead Director and Chairman of the Nomination and Governance Committee since July 1st, 2020
French citizen
Michel Landel began his career at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1977. In 1990, he became plant director for the Poliet group before joining Sodexo in 1984 first as Head of Operations for East Africa and then for Africa. In 2000, he became Vice-Chairman of Sodexo’s Executive Committee and in 2003, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. From 2005 to January 2018, he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committee and was appointed Director of Sodexo in 2007.
Since 2018, Michel Landel has been lead director and Chairman of the Appointments and Compensation Committee of Danone and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Louis Delhaize group.
He has won several awards for his campaigns in favor of diversity in the workplace. He also ranked 67th in the Harvard Business Review’s 2015 rankings of The Best-Performing CEOs in the World.
Annalisa Loustau Elia
Independent Director of Legrand since 2013 and Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee since July 1st, 2020
Italian citizen
Annalisa Loustau Elia worked for four years at Cartier in Geneva and Paris, for two years at L’Oréal’s Luxury Product Division in Paris and for thirteen years at Procter & Gamble in Geneva as well as in the Group’s subsidiaries in Paris and Rome.
Annalisa Loustau Elia is Chief Marketing Officer and has been a member of the Executive Committee of Printemps since 2008. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Campari since 2016.
Éliane Rouyer-Chevalier
Independent Director of Legrand since 2011, Chairman of the Audit Committee and member of the Compensation Committee
French citizen
Éliane Rouyer-Chevalier joined Accor in 1983, taking responsibility for international financing and cash currency management before becoming Director of Investor Relations and Financial Communication in 1992. From 2010 to 2012, she was a member of the Executive Committee of Edenred as Vice President of Corporate and Financial Communications & Social Responsibility. She was Chairman of the French Association for Investor Relations (CLIFF) from 2004 to 2014.
She is actually Chairman of ERC Consulting since 2013 and Consultant for the World Bank (IFC) since 2016. She is also Vice-President of the Observatoire de la Communication Financière since 2005. She has been a Director of the Federation of Individual Investors and Investment Clubs (F2IC) since 2014, of the Cercle de la Compliance since 2015 and of Time2Start since 2016.
Gilles Schnepp
Director since 2002, Member of the Strategy and Social Responsibility Committee
French citizen
Born on October 16, 1958, Gilles Schnepp joined Legrand in 1989 as Deputy Chief Financial Officer, then became Company Secretary to become afterwards Group Chief Financial Officer. In 2000, he became Chief Operating Officer, in 2001, a member of the Executive Committee and in 2002, a Director of Legrand. He was Vice-Chief Executive Officer until 2006 and then he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2006 until February 7, 2018. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Legrand from February 8, 2018 to June 30, 2020.
Gilles Schnepp is operating advisor for the Clayton, Dubilier & Rice funds since September 2020.
Gilles Schnepp is also Director of Saint-Gobain since 2009, Vice-Chairman and Senior Independent Member of Peugeot since 2019, and Director of Sanofi since 2020.
Fondation Legrand
Finance corner
Ownership structure
World presence