Corporate Governance: Board of Directors

The board of director is comprised of 9 members. It is chaired by Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO of Parrot, joined by 4 men directors and 4 women directors. Currently, 6 members of the board are independent (last updated May 2019).

 

Parrot has adopted the MiddleNext corporate governance code; each year, the compliance is detailed in the Annual Report.

 

The term of office of the directors is six years. The board’s bylaws require the Board of directors to meet at least four times a year, and it may hold additional meetings if required by the economic situation or any specific events, usually the Board meets 6 to 10 times each year. The attendance rate to the Board is between 7 to 8 directors out of 9. Part of the payment of directors' compensation depends on their effective participation in the 4 board meetings whose agenda provides for the approval of quarterly accounts.

 

The principles of balanced representation on boards of directors which specify that the proportion of directors of each sex of the Company can not be less than 40% is respected with 44% of women on the Parrot Board of directors.

 

The board of directors is made up of three standing committees:

 

• the Audit Committee,
• the Appointments and Compensation Committee,
• the Strategy Committee.

 

More information on Corporate Governance is presented each year in Chapters 14 and 16 of the Annual report / Reference document.

Henri Seydoux founded Parrot in 1994 and has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since its creation. Self-educated, he began his career in 1978 as a trainee with “Journal Actuel”, where he was later employed as a journalist from 1979 to 1980. In 1981, he joined the sales team at the “Matin de Paris” newspaper. Then, in 1982, he joined SSCI as an operating system software developer, before working for Microarchi from 1983 to 1984 in the same role. In 1985, he set up BBS, a company intended to market the micro archi operating system. In 1986, he created BSCA, a synthetic 3D imaging company, and became its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 1986 to 1990. In 1991, with three other partners, he founded and became a director in the luxury goods company Christian Louboutin.

 

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Paul-François FOURNIER represents BPIfrance S.A. which was appointed as a Company director on June 16, 2016. BPIfrance S.A. is the French public investment bank, it holds a 5% stake in Parrot and is not an independent director of the Parrot board.

 

Paul-François Fournier is Executive Director of Bpifrance's Innovation Division since 2013. A Polytechnique and Telecom ParisTech graduate, Paul-François Fournier joined the France Telecom-Orange group in 1994 as a sales engineer and spent seven years developing business services. In 2001, Paul-François Fournier was appointed head of broadband business at Wanadoo, ensuring the successful growth of ADSL offers in France. In 2011, Paul-François Fournier was named Executive Director of Orange's Technocentre, in charge of product innovation. He was also involved in the group's international operations as a member of the Wanadoo Group executive committee. He led a number of strategic projects, including the launch of the Livebox and voice over IP, in partnership with Inventel and Netcentrex, two French startups.

 

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Agnès BUREAU-MIRAT was appointed as a Company director on June 21, 2017. An IEP Paris graduate, with a masters in human resources management from Université Paris IX Dauphine, Agnès Bureau-Mirat began her career in 1986 as an Internal Communications and Human Resources Development Manager for La Samaritaine. In 1990, she joined the Ciments Français-Italcementi group, where she held various international human resources management positions, in Paris and Bergamo. In 1999, she moved to the Vivendi Universal group as Director of HR Development for VU Publishing, before being appointed VP Human Resources for VU Santé. From 2003, she served as VP Human Resources for the Valeo group's aftermarket activities. In 2006, she became the Arjowiggins group's SVP Human Resources and a member of its executive committee. She joined Elior in 2009 as SVP Human Resources and CSR, as well as a member of the group's executive committee. She also sat on the board of Grupo Areas in Barcelona from 2011 to 2015, a market leader for concession catering and stores serving airports, stations and highways in Spain and the US. Since 2017, she has been a Senior Business Advisor with the Paris-based consultancy X-PM, specialized in transition management and part of the international Wil Group network. As a company director, Agnès Bureau-Mirat has been a chartered member of the French Institute of Directors in Paris and the Institute of Directors in London since 2016.

 

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Isabelle Carrère was appointed as a Company director on June 13, 2019. After ten years in auditing and consulting at Arthur Andersen, Isabelle Carrère became Chief Financial Officer of the Yves Rocher Group. In 1999 she joined the LISI Group, becoming Deputy Chief Executive Officer of LISI Aerospace and LISI Medical.

 

She left LISI in 2009 to create Alba & Co, her consulting firm, which supports industrial companies in their growth projects, mainly with three levers: digital, international, M&A.

 

A specialist in the aeronautical world, Isabelle Carrère has focused Alba's activities towards the transportation, defense, and associated data management, as well as the production of critical components and subsystems.

 

Isabelle Carrère also sits on the boards of the LISI Group, the FIBI-Aplix Group and Solidar'Monde. She also participates in the selection committees of the Starbust Aerospace Incubator.

 

A graduate of ESCP Europe, she also holds a degree in public accounting.

 

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Marie EKELAND was appointed as a Company director on June 11, 2014. Marie is the co-founder of Daphni, a venture capital fund focused on European digital startups. Marie is also Vice-Chairman of France Digitale, an association that brings together digital investors and entrepreneurs, and a member of the national digital council (Conseil National du Numérique). She began her career in 1997 as an IT engineer with the investment bank JP Morgan in New York. In 2000, she joined the innovation investment team at CPR Private Equity, which later became Crédit Agricole Private Equity. In 2005, she joined Elaia Partners, where she was notably involved in the investments in Criteo and Sigfox. Marie Ekeland also sits on the boards of directors of Criteo and Showroomprivé. Marie Ekeland has a degree in mathematics and IT engineering from Université Paris IX Dauphine, and a masters in economic policy and analysis from Ecole d’Economie de Paris.

 

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Stéphane MARIE was appointed as a Company director on June 18, 2009. Stéphane Marie is a chartered accountant and statutory auditor. He graduated from Dauphine and has an Executive MBA from HEC. He worked in international audit firms for nine years, including nearly three years in the US, before joining the Paris-based firm RSM in 1994. He is currently a partner and a member of the management committee, focused in particular on statutory auditing assignments for real estate, industrial and retail groups.

 

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Jean-Marie PAINVIN was appointed as a Company director on June 24, 2003. After graduating from Rice University in Texas with a masters degree in mechanical engineering, he began his career in 1975 as a regional director for Trailor S.A., where he went on to become sales and marketing director between 1981 and 1988. In 1988, he became Chairman of Deutsch Relays, Inc. in the US, and was then appointed in 1994 to head up Compagnie Deutsch, serving as its Chairman and CEO from 1999 to 2013. In 2013, he founded JM Investment, where he is currently its Chairman.

 

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Natalie RASTOIN was appointed as a Company director on May 31, 2011. She also satisfies the criteria to be considered an independent director. Since 2015, Natalie Rastoin has been Chairwoman of Ogilvy Paris. After starting off in strategic planning, she joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986 as Chief Development Officer, then, in 1991, she was appointed Vice-President in charge of European development. In 1992, she became CEO of the Paris branch of BDDP Conseil, before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Paris in 1997 (1997-2005). Natalie Rastoin has worked with many high-tech clients, particularly on globalization issues for global brands (Cisco, Yahoo!, IBM, AOL, Google), as well as startups, particularly in collaboration with NUMA, which she advises. She is also a director of Pégase (Carel, Carvil and Accessoire brands) and a member of HighCo's supervisory board.

 

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Geoffroy ROUX DE BÉZIEUX was appointed as a Company director on September 14, 2006. He was elected President of MEDEF in July 2018, the leading network of entrepreneurs in France promoting free enterprise and encourage and enhance entrepreneurship.
Geoffroy graduated from ESSEC and completed a postgraduate DESS at Dauphine in 1984, he spent two years in the special forces (Marine Commandos), with operations in Africa and Lebanon. He then joined the L'Oréal group, where he spent 10 years in various positions in both France and abroad, notably serving as head of marketing in the UK and then CEO for Poland. In 1996, he set up The Phone House, the first fully dedicated chain of mobile telephony stores. One year later, he brought the English group The Carphone Warehouse on board as a shareholder. In 2000, this group listed in London and took control of The Phone House. He became its Chief Executive Officer to develop Phone House in Europe from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, he set up the company Omea Telecom, which launched Breizh Mobile, the first alternative mobile operator (MVNO). In 2006, he convinced the Virgin Group to invest in this project and launched Virgin Mobile. In December 2014, Numéricâble bought out Omea Telecom for 325 M€. In January 2015, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux set up Notus Technologies, an industrial group of innovative companies serving retail markets, including firms such as Inès de la Fressange and Crédit.fr. In January 2016, he bought out Oliviers et compagnie, a company that produces (in France) and sells olive oil and related products worldwide (60% export). From 2003 to 2008, he was Vice-Chairman then Chairman of Croissance Plus, the association for high-growth businesses. He has been a member of the Board at France Investissement and been part of the Attali and Levy-Jouyet Commissions. From 2008 to 2012, he was Vice-Chairman and Chairman of Unedic for MEDEF. Since July 2013, he has been Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of MEDEF, in charge of its “Economy” section. He has been Vice-Chairman of the French telecoms federation (FFT). Lastly, with his wife, he has set up a charity foundation - the ARAOK Foundation - under the auspices of Fondation de France, providing funding for humanitarian associations.