Paris, December 10, 2021
Danone is pleased to announce that Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet was appointed to join its Board of Directors starting from March 1, 2022, replacing Isabelle Seillier who decided to step down for personal reasons as from December 31, 2021.
This is a first step in Danone’s overhaul of its Board of Directors, which will lead the Company to renew the totality of its Board of Directors by 2023 – except the positions held by the Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer and the two Directors representing Employees.
Gilles Schnepp, Chairman of the Board said:
“We are pleased to welcome Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet to Danone’s Board of Directors.
She brings extensive and undisputed global FMCG expertise and CEO-experience to Danone. We thank Valérie for her engagement and look forward to working together. On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to extend our warmest thanks to Isabelle Seillier for her active involvement in the Board’s work over the last 10 years. Her expertise and understanding of financial markets, her determination as well as her unwavering support to Danone have been great assets to the Board.
The decision announced today reflects the determination of the Board of Directors in implementing change at Danone. Over the next few months, we will continue to progress on the overhaul of the Board, proposing several new names before the 2022 Shareholders’ Meeting.
We will also host – together with Antoine de Saint-Affrique, Juergen Esser and the Executive Committee – a Capital Market Event on March 8, 2022, a key milestone in putting Danone back on a sustainable shareholder value creation path.”
Danone Board overhaul – Reminder
On July 29, 2021, Danone announced the complete overhaul of its Board of Directors: all current Directors – with the exception of Gilles Schnepp, Antoine de Saint-Affrique and the two Directors representing Employees – will be leaving the Board of Directors by the 2023 Shareholders’ Meeting.
In the meantime, Danone will propose the election of new, externally-recruited Directors, with the objective of constituting a more independent and compact Board of Directors with the right blend of FMCG-experience, capabilities and perspectives.
Biographies
Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet is the former Chief Executive Officer of Rémy Cointreau (2014-2019). She spent 24 years at L'Oréal where she held numerous Sales, Marketing and General Management positions within the Luxury Products Division in different countries and regions. After L’Oréal, and before becoming CEO of Rémy Cointreau, she held several General Management positions at Louis Vuitton in Asia, Europe and in North and South America. Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet now dedicates her time to non-executive directorship, being involved with two listed companies – Diageo as a Non-Executive Director since 2021 and Nexstage as an Independent Member of the Supervisory Board since 2019.
Isabelle Seillier has been a Director at Danone since 2011. She has been the Global Chairman Investment Banking for J.P. Morgan since 2019, after having led the bank’s Investment Banking arm in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She started her career in Société Générale, in the Sales Department for options products.
About Danone (www.danone.com)
Danone is a leading multi-local food and beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in 3 businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With its ‘One Planet. One Health’ frame of action, which considers the health of people and the planet as intimately interconnected, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices. To accelerate this food revolution and create superior, sustainable, profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined nine 2030 Goals, and paved the way as the first listed company to adopt the “Entreprise à Mission” status in France. With a purpose to bring health through food to as many people as possible, and corresponding social, societal and environmental objectives set out in its articles of association, Danone commits to operating in an efficient, responsible and inclusive manner, in line with the Sustainable Development Go als (SDGs) of the United Nations. By 2025, Danone aims to become one of the first multinational companies to obtain B Corp™ certification. With more than 100,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €23.6 billion in sales in 2020. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon Organic, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk). Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the ones managed by Vigeo Eiris and Sustainalytics, as well as the Ethibel Sustainability Index, the MSCI ESG Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and the Access to Nutrition Index.