Christel Heydemann will move from shadow to light in a few days. This 47-year-old polytechnician, who has never held such high office before, should officially become, on Friday, January 28, the future general manager of Orange. She will replace Stéphane Richard, forced to resign on November 24, 2021 following his conviction on appeal in the Tapie case. After Engie and very soon Veolia, the telecom operator will thus be the third CAC 40 group to be led by a woman.
Initially scheduled for Monday, January 24, the decisive board meeting has been postponed to January 28, confirmed to the World several sources. “The name of Christel Heydemann is consensus, but some details still remain to be settled, in particular her date of arrival”, explains one of them. Orange does not comment. Despite this delay of a few days, the deadline of January 31 set by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to find a replacement for Stéphane Richard, will be held. A matter of principle for Bercy, but which led to urgently carry out a process which is by nature highly sensitive, at the risk of electrifying the atmosphere.
With 23% of the capital of Orange, which makes it the largest shareholder in the group ahead of the employees (7%), the State weighed in with all its weight in the choice of the new manager. Responsible for conducting the selection, the governance committee of the operator’s board of directors, chaired by Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, independent director and member of the management board of Publicis, felt deprived of its mission. After having selected six candidates, including Christel Heydemann, the three administrators composing this committee had kept only two names: Frank Boulben, current senior executive of the American telecom operator Verizon, and Ramon Fernandez, the financial director of Orange.
The first, also a polytechnician and former executive of Orange then SFR, “ was clearly favored by the governance committee”, assures a source. But the state asked him to add a third name to its list: Christel Heydemann. And to get the message across, Bercy publicly announced in mid-January that “ with equal powers, the Minister [souhaitait] that it is a woman who takes over the management of Orange”. The Elysée, which had not yet auditioned Mme Heydemann, was somewhat annoyed by the eagerness of the Minister of Economy.
“The mandate entrusted to the governance committee at the time of the launch of the selection process left the State the possibility of adding the candidate of its choice to the list. It is legitimate that the first shareholder of a company which has 23% of the capital has this right., justifies a close friend of Orange.
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