Publicis Groupe announces the appointment of Michel-Alain Proch as Groupe’s Chief Financial Officer, member of the Directoire replacing Jean-Michel Etienne

The Supervisory Board that met today, decided to appoint Michel-Alain Proch as a member of the Groupe’s Directoire, replacing Jean-Michel Etienne, whose mandate will end on December 31, 2020 as scheduled.

The choice of Michel-Alain Proch was made by the Nominating Committee after a rigorous and thorough selection process.

Michel-Alain Proch will join the Groupe mid-January and will take over the full operational functions of the Chief Financial Officer role, after the closing and presentation of the 2020 financial results mid-February.

Jean-Michel Etienne will remain with the Groupe until the summer, as Special Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, and will oversee central services and Re:Sources in particular.

The Supervisory Board has also welcomed Patricia Velay-Borrini, unanimously designated by the employee representatives at the Group Committee on October 16^th, 2020, as the second member representing Publicis Groupe’s employees on the Supervisory Board. She will join the Nomination Committee. Patricia Velay-Borrini integrated the Group in 1993 and has spent her entire career with it. Within the Supervisory board, she joins Pierre Pénicaud, who has been appointed as a member representing Publicis Groupe’s employees in 2017 by the Group Committee. 

Maurice Lévy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board stated: "The Supervisory Board would like to express its warm thanks to Jean-Michel for his long and exemplary collaboration. For my part, with him by my side for the last twenty years, I could only be extremely happy about our collaboration and I have been able to appreciate his human and professional qualities, his great rigor and his exceptional capacity for work. I wish him all the best for the future and I am delighted that he will be able to ensure a smooth transition. With the Board, I am pleased to welcome Michel-Alain Proch whose profile, experience and skills seem to me perfectly adapted to ensure the succession of    Jean-Michel ".

Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe added: "First of all, I would like to sincerely thank Jean-Michel for his unfailing support since I first took on the role of CEO, and for everything he has helped us achieve as a Group over all of these years. I am very pleased to welcome Michel-Alain Proch to our team. His 25 years of experience in finance, strategy, integration and transformation, acquired within major technology groups, and his knowledge of the United States, our largest market, will be valuable assets for Publicis. »

Michel-Alain Proch was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Ingenico in February 2019 until the company was acquired by Worldline in November 2020. Since then, he has been advising its Chairman & CEO on the integration process. Previously, he was SEVP & Group Chief Digital Officer at Atos in 2018 after having led the group’s operations in North America from 2015 to 2017. As EVP and Group Chief Financial Officer of Atos from 2007 to 2015, he led several major M&A operations and successfully co-led the IPO of Worldline. He was recognized by Extel as CFO of the Year (Europe, Software & IT Services) for four years running. He was Board Member of Worldline until 2016. He had previously held senior executive roles at Hermès in France and the United-States for 8 years. He started his career as a consultant at Deloitte & Touche in France and in the UK.