Capgemini to split CEO and Chair roles in management shake-up
Global consulting firm Capgemini has named the man to succeed Chief Executive Officer Paul Hermelin when he steps down in Spring 2020. Current Chief Operating Officer Aiman Ezzat will take the reins in May, drawing on a deep knowledge of the company's main businesses and work in multiple countries, including the UK and the US.
Capgemini is in a transformative state at present. While the firm grew sales in its most recent fiscal year to $14.51 billion, an increase of 5.4% on the $13.78 billion of 2017, profit declined to $802.9 million, a fall of 11% from $901.9 million. This is partly due to a ramping up of the firm’s headcount, increasing 5% year-on-year to 216,800 people.
The professional services firm has also been spending heavily on merger and acquisition activity. Earlier in the year, Capgemini purchased engineering and R&D services provider Altran in a massive $4.1 billion deal. The transaction is intended to make Capgemini a leader in providing digital transformation services to customers.
Now, as the consultancy looks to build on its current momentum, Capgemini has announced the successor of current CEO Paul Hermelin. Hermelin joined Capgemini in 1993, after working for the French Government for 15 years. He has been with the company ever since, becoming CEO of the Capgemini Group in 2002, and adding the position of Chairman to his remit ten years later. Amid the changes sweeping the company, however, he has recommended that the firm’s next General Meeting of Shareholders splits the chairman and CEO roles apart.
Replacing Hermelin as CEO will be Aiman Ezzat, a 24-year Capgemini stalwart who is currently the firm’s global COO. Ezzat began his professional services career in sales for IBM, before joining Capgemini for the first time in 1991. After eight years – becoming Vice President of the firm’s Global Head of Oil, Gas and Chemicals sector along the way – he left Paris to join Genpact Headstrong Capital Markets in Washington D.C., where he spent four years as Managing Director International Operations.
In 2004, Ezzat returned to Capgemini, initially in the US, before moving to the firm’s London office as Group Deputy Director Strategy a year later. Following a succession of promotions – including being CFO of the group from December 2012 to 2018 – Ezzat spent the last year as Capgemini’s COO, working from the company’s Parisian base. There, he spearheads go-to-market and client management efforts.
Capgemini’s new structure will see Paul Hermelin remain Chairman of the Board, while Aiman Ezzat will be responsible for the general management of the company, as the sole executive corporate officer. In a release confirming his nomination to succeed Hermelin, Capgemini praised Ezzat for his deep knowledge of the company's main businesses and work in multiple countries, including the UK and the US.