PARIS, January 6 (Reuters) – The internal selection committee of Orange ORAN.PA has selected three candidates to succeed the resigning CEO of the French telecoms giant, Stéphane Richard, we learned Thursday from two close sources folder.
The committee made up of three directors of Orange has shortlisted Ramon Fernandez, current CFO of Orange, Christel Heydemann, director of Orange and boss of Schneider SCHN.PA in Europe, and Franck Boulben, a former Orange currently manager at Verizon VZ.N in the United States, the sources said, confirming information from the newspaper Liberation.
Stéphane Richard, whose term was due to expire next May, tendered his resignation from the management of Orange in November after his conviction on appeal to one year in prison and a 50,000 euro fine in the case of the arbitration between Bernard Tapie and Crédit Lyonnais, after spending eleven years at the head of the company. nL8N2SF1QW
The last word to designate the person who will succeed him after January 31 falls to the State, which retains control over the main appointments of the governance of Orange thanks to its controlling stake of 23%.
The Elysée could therefore ultimately ignore the three candidates preselected by the internal committee and impose its own choice. But time seems to be running out to find by January 31 both a new president and a new CEO for Orange.
(Mathieu Rosemain, French version Tangi Salaün)