WO.MEN’s Café - Rencontre avec Véronique PENCHIENATI–BOSETTA, CEO International - Groupe Danone

Welcome everyone, we are delighted to welcome you today for this special Rubens Café with an equally exceptional guest. I'm Safia Patrielos, co-founder of Women Balnéo Mal Unis, and I have the pleasure of having Adeline Lense beside me to co-host this Rubens Café.

Hello.

A few words about Women at Luminy. We are a mixed network of women and men committed to making equality a reality in our companies and in society. We are lucky to have as our godmother Inés Garcia-Poveda, president of the Legrand group and one of only two female presidents of a CAC 40 group to date. As you know, Women is a sixty-minute encounter with women and men who are moving the needle, chosen for their particularly inspiring journeys and their daily impact. For this exceptional edition, we have the pleasure of welcoming Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta, Group Deputy CEO of Danone and member of the Executive Committee. Hello and welcome, Véronique.

Thank you for accepting to give us your very precious time for this Rubens Café. It's a great pleasure and a great honor to exchange with you live, notably about your journey, your keys to success, but also your vision of the future and the main challenges within the Danone group, in a context that is particularly eventful. For those of you online, don't hesitate to ask your questions in the Q&A tab. We'll take fifteen minutes at the end of this interview to answer them. So Véronique, let's start with a few words to present you. You graduated from NEOMA in '89. You are considered within Danone, I quote, as a top-tier executive. You define yourself as a free and authentic woman who says what she thinks and knows what she wants, and your career clearly demonstrates that. Before joining Danone, you started in marketing in the hygiene and beauty sector, notably eight years at Procter & Gamble, and in '99 you were headhunted for a position within Danone. Seduced by the group and its mission, you dove in, and that's where a great story begins—twenty-three years of a very beautiful career. I'll fast-forward a bit, sorry. After two years heading marketing for France, you took over worldwide marketing in 2002. You changed roles, becoming marketing director for dairy products, the group's leading division. Then in 2004, with the arrival of your second child, you made your wish known to travel less and returned to a France-focused role as Vice President of Dairy Products Marketing. Then in 2009, you created your own opportunity—you asked for a general management role in France. The response was that you first needed to validate a general management experience in a foreign subsidiary, but you didn't want to expatriate your family, and that was very clear. So you refused, and persisted for six months, and it paid off—you were finally appointed General Manager of Danone Waters France, where your results were impressive. The ascent continued: in 2013, Vice President of Europe for Evian and Volvic, then President of Evian and Volvic Worldwide a year later. You made Evian take a giant leap forward, developed the group's e-commerce strategy, and it was natural that in 2017 you were offered the direction of Growth and Innovation, joining the Executive Committee in 2018. In 2019, you took over Specialized Nutrition, the group's second branch, and in late 2020, just out of the pandemic, you were appointed International General Manager. Finally, in March 2021, as the group experienced a crisis with the abrupt departure of CEO Emmanuel Faber, you also took on the role of co-CEO until the arrival of Antoine de Saint-Affrique. Quite a journey! The first question we wanted to ask you is: when you were a student, did you imagine such a career, and what are your driving forces?

So just as you talk about luck, Véronique, going back to 2009 when you pushed for it—when you asked for a general management role in France while you were a marketing director and hadn't yet checked the box of being a CEO of a small foreign subsidiary, which is normally required for such a progression. Why did you make this request, and how did you manage to convince them?

Another question: in 2020 you took the international CEO role, barely out of the pandemic, and then a few months later in March 2021, a new crisis with the abrupt departure of Emmanuel Faber. You became co-CEO until the new CEO arrived. How did you manage this particularly turbulent period for the group, the teams, and for you personally? What was your role as co-CEO?

And precisely, I want to come back to this mission, this unique DNA that Danone has. It reminds me of you—staying rooted. It's the same for a brand and a group: staying anchored to your DNA so you don't lose yourself. A mission that is both economic and social, and has been around a long time—since Antoine Riboud's famous 1972 speech in Marseille, where he proposed reconciling industry with the planet, knowing it was difficult but not impossible. Since then, the group—and you've contributed a lot—has committed to certifying B Corp across its entire portfolio by 2030. How do you drive this transformation and find the right balance between profitability and social and environmental progress?

A colleague was telling me, when you hear all this, you wonder—how does she manage, balancing her professional and personal life? I suppose some participants online are wondering the same thing: with all your responsibilities, how do you balance your role as a senior executive, your couple, your family, and your two grown sons? Do you have a recipe to share? I know many women are listening.

Yes, exactly. This energy — you have a lot of it and you give a lot of it. But how do you recharge your batteries? Is it with your family, or are there other places where you recharge to recover all this energy you've given?

Well, at least you're not perfect — that helps us a little!

The things you do well, those small rituals that you enjoy and you say 'okay, let's keep doing that for the next two months.' You give off the feeling that you're someone who's close to the teams. Do you have a small ritual? I like to take a break with something before going to work.

It's something that interests us a lot at Chairwoman, as you know. You told me, 'I don't even understand why we still ask the question.' It's the foundation of the richness and performance of any company, and my teams have been diverse for a long time.

So I'd like to ask you: do you have good practices to share? And can you tell us a bit about the group's commitments and how you measure progress?

And you have a target of 100?

Eve really lends itself to these discussions. You've told me it's very rich, and I imagine that at Danone, like in our companies, you've experienced moments — particularly during the pandemic — where we saw compelling examples of particularly diverse and inclusive teams that were able to adapt quickly, find creative and lasting solutions for their company. Do you have examples you can share?

Yes, clearly, it was a meaningful time. And I think we've all experienced moments like that in our companies. It's really important. What I take away from your idea is: really freeing, liberating the energies. That was so important, and it creates wonders. I have a last question before we move to participant questions.

Véronique, you know that with us, we really want to create a supportive network to help women in their professional journey. Do you have advice to give to the women listening — especially young students, those who are just starting their careers? And also, as someone who raised two wonderful boys and transmitted values to them, do you have a message for the men listening too?

What a beautiful message, Véronique. A truly beautiful message. Listen, let's now move to questions from our participants online. I'm going to hand over to Jean Albinet.

Do you have questions? Yes, yes, lots of questions. Thank you, Véronique, for this sharing which is very authentic and very thorough. There are lots of questions, lots of comments too about the dynamism and positivity — it feels great. But do you sleep sometimes?

There's actually a question on that topic about the rituals you mentioned earlier — how do you set boundaries to maintain work-life balance? Do you set limits on this heavy investment in your work, especially during that transition period? How do you manage to find that balance? Do you have tips for prioritizing what's urgent versus what truly matters?

There are also questions about leadership and gender diversity in governance. Pascal asks: what would be the paths for women who still face many professional barriers to overcome them? How can we give female talent a chance more naturally, opening the way to general management and executive committees? Do you have something to say about that?

That's extremely important. There's also a question about your perception of the biggest challenges for tomorrow's leaders — what posture, what levers to achieve parity?

And one last question before we wrap up. Now that there are several women on the executive committee, did you feel a difference? Is it an advantage? How does it translate — are there changes around the table?

We need to wrap up. Thank you, Véronique, for these inspiring and authentic testimonials. Speaking freely — it's really wonderful. It's been a great moment. It gave me energy! Do you have a final word before we say goodbye?

That's wonderful. And that's especially for women — dare, dare, dare! We dare when we're at 150% of our capabilities. But dare also at 60%, like men do, because you have to create your own luck. I think Véronique has given a wonderful example. Thank you, thank you. And thank you to our participants online. Join us on the LinkedIn group — we're over 1,700 members communicating on LinkedIn now. So join us, the links are in the conversation tab. And the upcoming events — Adeline, I'll let you talk about those.

Sign up quickly! Our next events: Thursday, May 19th, we have Patrick Jean — an actor and filmmaker who often addresses major societal questions — for a 60-minute discussion. It will be 'equal to equal,' decoding stereotypes and how they persist in our daily lives. And two dates to save: Thursday, June 16th, with testimonies from young fathers who are executives, discussing the new paternity leave. And Thursday, July 7th, we're organizing an original event so we can see each other before the summer. Thank you all, thank you Véronique. Véronique, Action wishes you until our next meeting a wonderful week full of sunshine and energy. See you very soon!