Estelle Brachlianoff, who will be turning 50 on Friday, July 1, is taking over Veolia Environnement’s general management. Veolia Environnement has just completed its takeover bid to Suez. Estelle Brachlianoff succeeds Antoine Frerot who will continue to be the chairman of the board. With Catherine MacGregor at Engie, and Christel Heydemann (Orange), she becomes the CAC 40’s third boss. Although the feminization process of the Paris Stock Exchange’s flagship index is in progress, it is taking place very slowly. Two chairpersons on the boards of directors or supervisory board of the CAC 40 are Barbara Dalibard at Michelin, and Angeles Garcia-Poveda @ Legrand.
His name is Brachelianoff, but not Braklianoff. It’s her maiden title, and she cares about it. Like his grandfather, he is also of Bulgarian descent. She doesn’t blame Antoine Frerot, though, for calling her Braklianoff as she was always called.
50 years ago, the Ecole Polytechnique opened its doors to women. Her mother, an engineer herself, continued to praise her daughter for Anne Chopinet’s merits, who was the first woman to pass through Polytechnique’s ranks on July 14. She calls it “a family myth”, which she eventually became: she is from class 1992, just like Nathalie Kolosciusko-Morizet. Claudie Haignere was the astronaut who gave Anne Chopinet her childhood dream.
Women now manage the two French giants in water and waste, Veolia Environnement (the part Veolia couldn’t swallow to ensure a minimum of French competition), and the new Suez. Veolia’s boss has an advantage over Suez’s: Estelle Brachlianoff, who has been in business for seventeen year. Sabrina Soussan joined him only on February 1. Antoine Frerot is proud of having prepared his successor well. They designed Impact 2023 together, experienced the Covid crisis and then took on Suez. Its competitor, already highly regarded by its teams, will be able to offer a new, hyperpragmatic outlook with no legacy.
She explains that feminism is about encouraging diversity and looking for female talents to encourage them. She also argues that all diverseities are important to her. She will receive the same salary as her predecessor or even more since it has not been increased in a few years. Antoine Frerot made 980,000 euros as a fixed-paying employee and 1.2 millions euros as a variable. He will be the last president of Veolia, and will move up one floor at Veolia Headquarters in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), before he leaves his office. The new boss isn’t rushing: she will be moving in the summer.
The first task of the new Veolia is to integrate all entities following the takeover bid. The new Veolia now includes 60% of the Suez assets. France was mainly sold to foreign subsidiaries (the American GIP and Meridiam funds, as well as the Caisse Des Depots et Conssignations) in order to increase competition. More than 220,000 people work for the group. Veolia’s dimension will change in America, Australia, Belgium, and the Hispanic World after the merger. A “stiff” woman, she will need to be open to creating chemistry within a larger group.
She is fluent in English and has managed all of Veolia’s activities in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018. It will have to stop integrating a portion of Suez’s activities in the Channel, but reluctantly. Although the British competition authority will soon issue its verdict on the merger it doesn’t hide its concern about the decrease in players. Veolia, its former parent company, has expressed regret at the Suez waste branch.
She started her career at Veolia as a director of industrial cleaning and then moved to France to direct cleanliness in Ile-de-France. Now, she sits on Hermes’ board of directors. It’s not my world but it’s why I am interested. I’m curious. Then, I discover common points: we are in long-term, the duration. People are important to us. We seek out people to train, retrain, raise their skills and then we bring them aboard. This is what I enjoy.
This is a concern of hers and an environmental problem she hopes to reduce. She notes that half of France’s departments are now subject to water restrictions orders in June. This is a change from the norm, which typically does not occur before August. There are solutions. We can improve network management and also develop the reuse of wastewater. We reuse 90% of this water in Israel. In Spain, 15% is recycled, and in France less than 0.2%. This is the area where Suez, which was present in Spain, South America, and the United States, was technologically ahead of France. Veolia has since recovered this advantage.
Estelle Brachlianoff is a mother to two teenage boys who “know how to press where you make it react”. Despite everything, she manages to keep time for her passions of reading and contemporary dancing. Estelle Brachlianoff just enjoyed a performance by Sharon Eyal, an Israeli choreographer, at the Centquatre theatre in Paris. It is more of a novel than an essay on management. “Klara and the Sun” by KazuoIshiguro (Gallimard), is her latest read. This Japanese-born British writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature 2017. “Not my favorite,” she admits. She recommends Nicole Krauss, an American novelist (“Dark Forest”, and “The Story of Love”)
