Michel Rollier, managing general partner and chairman of Groupe Michelin, announced at the company’s annual meeting his intentions to leave office on May 11.
If shareholders agree, Jean-Dominique Senard, who was elected non-general managing partner in May 2007 and managing general partner last May, will succeed Rollier as the group’s chairman.
Pete Selleck, chairman and president of Michelin North America, says, "Michel Rollier's leadership throughout the recent global economic crisis kept Michelin on track, growing and profitable. He leaves a strong legacy and a robust, top-performing company."
In February 2011, Rollier announced his intention not to complete his term of office (click here for more details), which according to the bylaws ends at age 72. At the 2011 annual meeting, he proposed that shareholders, who accepted, elect Senard as managing general partner to succeed him. At that time, the group’s corporate governance system was also adjusted to provide for Rollier's succession.
“Jean-Dominique Senard was elected managing general partner last May, and since then we’ve worked together to prepare my succession,” Rollier says. “The transition is now complete and the time has come to pass him the reins. Michelin is in fine shape and geared up to meet the many challenges that are sure to arise in our new phase of assertive growth underway since 2011. I know that Jean-Dominique will be an excellent chairman and that he will continue to proudly express Michelin’s values and ambitions. He has my full and absolute confidence.”
After a long career with the International Paper Group, Rollier joined Michelin in 1996 as chief legal officer and director of financial operations. A member of the Group Executive Council, in late 1999 he was given responsibility for the entire financial and legal affairs department. He was elected managing general partner in May 2005, becoming the sole managing general partner a year later. In May 2007, he was joined by Senard, who was elected non-general managing partner at that time, and then managing general partner in May 2011.
Rollier is now 67 years old.
Senard’s current term of office, which began on May 13, 2011, will last four years and is renewable.
Born in 1953, Senard joined Michelin in 2005 as chief financial officer and member of the executive committee, and after serving as non-general managing partner since May 2007, he was elected managing general partner at the annual meeting of Michelin shareholders on May 13, 2011.
Michelin’s managing partners, who according to the bylaws must be individuals and not legal entities, are elected by shareholders. They can be either general partners, who have unlimited personal liability for Michelin’s debts, or non-general partners.
The Michelin supervisory board, whose role was expanded by the change in bylaws approved by shareholders at the May 2011 annual meeting, currently has eight members elected by shareholders for four-year terms: Eric Bourdonnais de Charbonnière (chairman), Pat Cox, Barbara Dalibard, Louis Gallois, François Grapotte, Pierre Michelin, Laurence Parisot and Benoît Potier. All of them qualify as independent.
To read the company's recently released financial report, click here.
