Analyst Note
| Ioannis Pontikis, CFA |On March 1, Danone announced the separation of CEO and chairman roles, which will be effective upon the appointment of a new CEO. Emmanuel Faber will focus on his role as nonexecutive chairman once the process is complete. In addition to Danone’s announcement in December 2020 regarding the composition of its board of directors, the group decided to appoint Gilles Schnepp as vice chairman, together with Cecile Cabanis (former CFO) and assign the lead independent director and chairman of the governance committee roles to Jean-Michel Severino, a long-time (10-year) member of the board. This follows pressure from two activist investors calling for chairman and CEO Emmanuel Faber to be replaced on the back of a disappointing performance versus peers in recent years.