Management team

Pierre-André de Chalendar is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and École Nationale d'Administration.  A former civil servant (Inspecteur des Finances), he served as deputy to the Director General for Energy and Raw Materials within the French Ministry of Industry. 

Mr. de Chalendar joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1989 as Vice-President, Corporate Planning. He was subsequently Vice-President of the Abrasives business in Europe (1992-1996), President of the Abrasives business worldwide (1996-2000) and General Delegate for the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (2000-2002) before being appointed Senior Vice-President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in charge of the Building Distribution Sector in 2003. 

Appointed Chief Operating Officer of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 2005 and elected to the Board in 2006, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2007 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2010.

Pierre-André de Chalendar is also a director of BNP Paribas. He is Vice-President of Entreprises pour l’Environnement, which he chaired from 2012 to 2015.

He directly supervises the Innovative Materials Sector from Saint-Gobain since October 29, 2015.

Claude Imauven is a graduate of École Polytechnique and  "Ingénieur au corps des mines." He began his career in 1983 at the French Ministry of Industry, where he held several management positions in public administration, especially as part of the Minister's staff (Foreign Trade and Industry).

His career at Saint-Gobain began in 1993 within the Flat Glass Division, where he was  Vice President of Industrial Policy and later VP Industry and Finance. In 1996, he was appointed General Delegate for Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Returning to France in 1999, he joined the Pipe Activity as Chief Operating Officer of Pont-à-Mousson SA. In 2001, he became Chairman & CEO of that company and President of the Pipe Activity.

From April 2004 until December 2015, Claude Imauven held the position of Senior Vice President of Saint-Gobain and President of the Construction Products Sector.
Claude Imauven has been Chief Operating Officer since January 1, 2016. In particular, he oversees Innovation, the Digital Transformation of the Group, Operational Excellence and International Development. Claude Imauven is also president of the Institut Mines-Telecom and is on the Board of Areva.

Benoit Bazin is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, with a degree in Economics from IEP Paris. He also holds a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He began his career in 1995 with the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, as rapporteur to the Interministerial Committee on Industrial Restructuring, before moving to the Treasury Department where he was responsible for State investments in the aeronautics, electronics and defense industries.

He joined Saint-Gobain in 1999 as Corporate Planning Director for the Abrasives business, moving on to become Vice President, Corporate Planning for Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in September of the following year. In 2002, he was appointed President of the North American Abrasives business in charge of the Bonded Abrasives business unit. In 2005, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Group.

Benoit Bazin from 2009 to end of 2015 has been President of the Building Distribution Sector and a Senior-Vice President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain since 2010.

Benoit Bazin since january 2016 is President of the Construction Products Sector.

Born in December 1963, Patrick Dupin holds a degree from the Havre Normandie Business school.

After having spent several years as a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) and eight years in the Finance Departments of the groups Chargeurs and Matra Telecommunications subsidiaries and divisions in Germany, Patrick Dupin joined Group Saint-Gobain in 1999 as Finance Director within the Abrasives Activity in Germany.

He was appointed in 2005 Finance and Plan Director of the Vitrage and High Performance Materials activities, then of the Innovative Materials Sector.

In January 2012 he has been appointed as General Manager of Saint-Gobain Sekurit activities (Automotive Glazing).

He is Director of the Vitrage Activity since February 2014 and since January 1st 2017, he has been appointed Senior Vice President of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in charge of the Flat Glass Activity (Innovative Materials Sector*).

Laurent Guillot is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, with a post-graduate degree in Macroeconomics from Université Paris I. He began his career with the Finance Ministry, initially in charge of Energy in the Forecasting Department, then in charge of Central Africa within the Treasury Department’s International Division. In 1999, he was appointed technical advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, first on maritime issues and then on budgetary, financial and industrial issues.

He joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 2002 as Vice-President, Corporate Planning. He was appointed Vice-President of Construction Abrasives in 2004, becoming Vice-President of High-Performance Refractories and Diesel Particulate Filters the following year. In 2007, he was appointed General Delegate for Brazil, Argentina and Chile. 

Laurent Guillot has been the Group’s Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to the end 2015.

Since January 1st 2016, he is in charge of the High Performance Materials Sector.

On January 1st 2017, he has been appointed Senior Vice President of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in charge of the High Performance Materials Sector and he directly oversees the Performance Plastics Activity.

Mr. Kinisky holds a B.S. in chemistry from Pace University (New York) and a M.S. degree in materials science from Polytechnic University (New York).  

Mr. Kinisky joined Norton Company (which was acquired by Saint-Gobain in 1990) in 1989 as a Technology Manager in the company’s Advanced Ceramics businesses. The following year, he assumed responsibility for the company’s Technical Services Group in its Northboro, Massachusetts, Research and Development Center. In 1995, he became Technology Director for the Bonded Abrasives business and, two years later, was promoted to Vice President of Technology and New Business Development for the company’s Abrasives Division. He was named President of Saint-Gobain Crystals in 2002. Six years later he assumed the position of President of Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics.

Since January, 1st, 2017, Thomas Kinisky is Senior Vice-President, General Delegate for North America.

Kåre O. Malo is a graduate of Oslo Business School (BI). In 1981, he started as marketing director in Dahl Norway. In 1990, he was appointed senior Vice President for Dahl group in Stockholm.

Kåre O. Malo has been President of the Building Distribution Sector in Nordic countries, Baltic states and Switzerland since 2006 until the end of 2015. He was also Director Procurement and Marketing for the Building Distribution Sector.

Since January 1st, 2016 he is President of the Building Distribution Sector and since March 1st, 2016 is Senior Vice-President of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in charge of the Building Distribution Sector.

Claire Pedini is a graduate of Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) and holds a Master's degree from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP). She started her career at Total in 1988 as Corporate Controller, before assuming responsibility for Total’s admission to trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991, and becoming Vice-President of Investor Relations in 1992, Vice-President of Media Relations in 1994 and Vice-President of New Information Technologies in 1997. In 1998, she joined Alcatel as Director of Financial Information and Shareholder Relations, becoming successively Vice-President, Investor Relations and Public Affairs in 2001, Deputy Chief Financial Officer in 2004, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Corporate Communications in 2006, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Corporate Communications and Real Estate in 2007 and Executive Vice-President, Alcatel-Lucent for Human Resources and Transformation in 2009. She became a member of the Alcatel-Lucent Executive Committee in 2006.

Since June 2010, Claire Pedini has served as Senior Vice-President in charge of Human Resources for the Saint-Gobain Group. She is also a director on the Board of EDF.

Jean-François Phélizon is a graduate of Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Business School and holds a PhD in Economics. 

He has worked for many years at Saint-Gobain, becoming successively Chief Financial Officer of the General Delegation in Spain in 1983, Chief Financial Officer of the Paper-Wood business in 1985, Chief Executive Officer of Lembacel in 1987, CEO of La Cellulose du Pin in 1988, Chief Financial Officer of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1989, Senior Vice-President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1998, CEO of Saint-Gobain Corp and General Delegate for the United States and Canada in 2000, and Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer in 2007. 

Jean-François Phélizon has been President of Internal Audit and Internal Control since 2008. 

Guillaume Texier is chief financial officer since January 1st 2016. 

He joined Saint-Gobain in 2005 as Vice President of Corporate Planning for Saint-Gobain in Paris.  He was subsequently General Manager, CertainTeed Gypsum Canada, President of CertainTeed Roofing (based in the US) and President of the Ceramic Materials activity worldwide.

Before joining Saint-Gobain, Texier held several positions of responsibility with the French government, including Advisor to the Minister of Environment and Advisor to the Minister of Industry.

Guillaume Texier is a graduate from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, and from Paris School of Mines. He is also a director on the Board of Veolia.

Antoine Vignial, a qualified lawyer, is a graduate of IEP Paris and ESSEC Business School with a post-graduate degree in private law from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. He began his career as a lawyer and then partner at Gide Loyrette Nouel before becoming a partner of the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer law firm in 1999.

He joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 2012 as Corporate Secretary and a member of the Executive Committee. He has been in charge of Corporate Social Responsibility since 2013.

Fabrice Didier graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1995 and has a PhD in Solid State Physics.  He has spent his entire career in the Saint-Gobain Group, occupying a range of positions in R&D and then in production management within the Glass division.

He was Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Glass in Germany before being appointed General Manager of the Group’s Solar business.

Fabrice Didier took up his current role of Chief Marketing Officer of the Group in August 2014.

Julie Bonamy is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP de Paris) and the National School of Public Administration (Ecole Nationale d’Administration). She started her career as a civil servant (inspectrice des finances) for the French government in 2011, before joining the Office of the

French Minister for the Economy, Industry and the Digital Sector in October 2014. She has been appointed advisor for the budget and digital sector in July 2015. As of June 1st 2017, Julie Bonamy is appointed Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and Planning of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain.

Benoît d’Iribarne holds an Engineering degree from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. 

He joined the Group in 1985 as R&D Engineer for Saint-Gobain Recherche Paris. In 1987, he joined Sekurit in Herzogenrath, Germany as Development Engineer. He was appointed Key Account Manager in the United Kingdom in 1989, Production Manager at Sekurit Belgium in 1992 and then Chief Executive Officer of Sekurit NFG in Germany in 1995. 

In 1997, he was appointed Vice-President of Manufacturing at Saint-Gobain Glass, after which he was appointed President of Saint-Gobain Glass Outside Europe in 2000 and of Saint-Gobain Glass in 2005. In 2008, he became President of Saint-Gobain Glass and Sekurit.

In 2012, Benoît d’Iribarne was appointed General Delegate for Brazil, Argentina and Chile and from July 2014 to end of 2015, he has served as President of the High Performance Materials Activity.

Since January 1st, 2016 he is General Delegate in Germany, Austria and Benelux and also coordinate for the Group the Industrial Excellence programs, including WCM. 

Armand Ajdari, is a graduate from Ecole Polytechnique and holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics.
He started his carrier in academia as a physicist in the French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Head of a Research lab during ten years at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles in Paris,  he authored or co-authored more than 130 scientific papers. He taught graduate courses in a few universities and schools in France, as well as in Harvard and MIT during two sabbatical years.
Armand joined the Saint-Gobain group in 2007, first as group Deputy R&D Vice-President, then as R&D Vice-President for the Innovative Materials Sector.
Since July 2017 he is R&D and Innovation Vice-President for the Saint-Gobain group.