Patrick Jean Pouyanné
(born 24 June 1963) is a French engineer who has been serving as
chairman and CEO
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...
of
TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
since 2014.
Early life and education
Pouyanné was born in
Petit-Quevilly in the region of Seine-Maritime in France. He spent some of his youth in
Bayonne
Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...
, where his father was the director of regional customs. At 20, he entered the
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern Franc ...
where he graduated with an engineering degree, holding the 11th spot in the degree ranking. He then became an engineer of the
Corps des mines
The ''Corps des mines'' is the foremost technical Grand Corps of the French State (grands corps de l'Etat). It is composed of the state industrial engineers. The Corps is attached to the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. Its purpose is to ...
.
Career
Career in the public sector
Pouyanné started his career in 1989 at the
Ministry of Industry. In 1993, he became the technical advisor of
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, co ...
, the French first minister at the time. In 1995, he became technical advisor for environment and industry, and chief of staff of
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Unio ...
right after at the Information Technology and Space Minister from 1995 to 1996.
Career in the private sector
In January 1997, Pouyanné joined the petroleum company
Elf as general secretary for the Angolan subsidiary. Two years later, he was named at the management of the Qatari's exploration-production department.
In 2000 Total absorbed Elf and Pouyanné kept his position in this new French conglomerate that joined the ten most important petroleum groups in the world. In 2002 he became Total's senior vice president of the exploration production department in charge of the finance, economics and information systems and then in charge of strategy business development and R&D in 2006.
In May 2006 Pouyanné joined Total's management committee, and was named deputy general manager of the refining and chemistry department in 2011. He joined Total's executive committee and was named president of the refining chemicals department in 2012.
In October 2014, following the death of
Christophe de Margerie, CEO of the group, it was decided to separate the functions of "president of the board of directors" and "executive director". Pouyanné was appointed CEO and president of the executive committee, while
Thierry Desmarest, then honorary president, was recalled for the position of temporary president.
In May 2015, Pouyanné was elected as a member of the board of directors of Total. In December he was appointed chairman and CEO of Total, combining both roles.
At the
2018 World Economic Forum in
Davos, Pouyanné attended a dinner of
U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
with a group of European CEOs.
Other activities
Corporate boards
*
Capgemini
Capgemini SE is a multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France.
History
Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and data processing company. The com ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2017)
Non-profit organizations
*
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris (french: Institut polytechnique de Paris) is a research university system located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of five engineering schools: École Polytechnique, ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2019)
*
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...
, Member of the Board of Trustees
*
European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and Europe ...
(ERT), Member
Recognition
Pouyanné was decorated as Knight of the Legion of Honour in September 2015.
Controversy
In 2021,
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...
and two other civil society groups filed a complaint with a Paris prosecutor against Pouyanné, alleging he abused his role on the board of
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern Franc ...
to allow Total to build a research and innovation center on the university's campus in Saclay.
Greenpeace files complaint against Total CEO, alleging conflict of interest
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
'', April 29, 2021.
References
External links
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1963 births
Living people
École Polytechnique alumni
Corps des mines
Mines ParisTech alumni
French chief executives
People from Le Petit-Quevilly
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
TotalEnergies people
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