Christel Bories

Christel Bories, born May 20, 1964 in Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère), is a French business leader.

Biography
She is the daughter of Jean-Louis and Janine Sauvonnet. Her parents worked in Tréfimétaux as engineers when she was born.

After graduating from HEC Paris in 1986, she spent 7 years in consulting, at Booz Allen Hamilton then at Corporate Value Associates (CVA).

In 1993, Jean-Pierre Rodier appointed her director of strategy and control at Union Minière (which became Umicore in 2001).

In 1995, she followed Jean-Pierre Rodier to Pechiney as director of strategy and management control. At that time, she was the only female member of the group's management team, which was also made up exclusively of polytechnique graduates. In 1998, she succeeded Patrick Kron as director of the packaging sector, which represents 20% of the group's activity.

Following Alcan's takeover bid for Pechiney in 2003, she is the only member of the former Pechiney steering committee to occupy an important position in the new entity. In fact, she is named packaging boss of the merged group. In 2006, Alcan's boss, Travis Engen, appointed her head of finished aluminum products for the automobile and aeronautics industry (Alcan EP).

In 2007, Alcan was the subject of a takeover bid by Rio Tinto. Christel Bories retained her position, but the division she managed was put up for sale and ultimately became an independent company, Constellium, which she managed in 2011. However, a conflict of values followed with the Apollo fund which was the new reference shareholder of Constellium, and Christel Bories resigns.

In 2013, she was Deputy CEO of Ipsen, responsible for restoring profitability and changing corporate culture. Following a quarrel with the reigning general manager, they both had to leave the company in March 2016, replaced by the American David Meek.

At the beginning of 2017, she was appointed Deputy Managing Director of the Eramet group. She succeeded Patrick Buffet as CEO of Eramet on May 23, 2017. The news caused Eramet shares to rise more than 6% on the stock market.

In March 2021, the Duval family and the French State, the main shareholders of Eramet, negotiated about a change in governance and a possible departure of Christel Bories, desired by the Duvals. However, the news caused the stock to fall and displeased employees. The balance sheet of Christel Bories' activity also works in her favor, because she has turned around the nickel extraction activities in New Caledonia and Indonesia, as well as the manganese activity in Gabon. This is why the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire refused to support the request of Georges and Cyril Duval.

Books

 * L'industrie racontée à mes ados... qui s'en fichent, Dunod, 2013

Private life
She married François Bories in 1989, and had 2 children.

She practices tennis, skiing and climbing.

Award

 * Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite, Knighthood in 2010.