Born January 6, 1956 – French citizenship
Director of TF1 since July 22, 2010 – independent
Current term expires: 2021
Chairwoman of the TF1 Audit Committee
Holds 100 shares in TF1
Business address: 30, bd Victor-Hugo 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Laurence Danon Arnaud enrolled at École Normale Supérieure Paris in 1977. She obtained an “agrégé” teaching qualification in Physics in 1980. After two years of research at the CNRS national scientific research laboratory, she enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines engineering school in 1981, graduating in 1984 as a qualified engineer. Laurence then joined the French Ministry of Industry as head of the Industrial Development Department within the Industry & Research directorate of the Picardy region. Three years later she moved to the Hydrocarbons Directorate of the Ministry of Industry, where she headed up the Exploration-Production Department. In 1989, she joined the Elf group, working in commercial managerial roles in the Polymers Division before being appointed head of a unit within the Industrial Specialties Division in 1991. She took on a new role in 1994 as Director of the Global Functional Polymers Division. From 1996 to 2001 she was CEO of AtoFindley Adhesives, which became Bostik (world no. 2 in adhesives in 2000). In 2001, she was appointed as Chairwoman & CEO of Printemps and a member of the Executive Board of PPR (Pinault Printemps Redoute, now Kering), where she successfully oversaw the repositioning towards fashion and luxury goods. She won the “Enterprise” trophy at the “Femmes en or” (France’s “Women of the Year” awards) in 2006. Following the successful sale of Printemps in October 2006, she left this role in 2007. Laurence joined the Edmond de Rothschild group in 2007 as a member of the Management Board of Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance, becoming Chairwoman in 2009. In just a few years she significantly raised the profile of the firm’s mid-cap/family M&A advisory business, engineering some ground-breaking deals. At the start of 2013 she moved to Leonardo & Co. SAS, the French subsidiary of the Italian investment bank Banca Leonardo (one of France’s leading M&A specialists handling 30 deals a year), as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Following the sale of Leonardo & Co. SAS to Natixis in 2015, Laurence joined her family firm Primerose SAS. Laurence is an officer of the Légion d’honneur and the Ordre de Mérite. She has also been elected to the Académie des Technologies.
Other directorships and positions outside the TF1 group
In France: Chairwoman of Primerose SAS. Director of Amundi, Groupe Bruxelles-Lambert and Gecina (listed companies).
Former directorships and positions held in the past five years
2016 – Senior Advisor to Natixis Partners. Director of Cordial Investment & Consulting plc (United Kingdom).