Capgemini’s Chairman and Founder, Serge Kampf, has decided to stand down with effect from 24th May. The announcement describes Kampf’s immense contribution as “leader and inspirer” of the Group over 45 years.
When he steps down, Paul Hermelin, currently Capgemini’s CEO, will take the position of Président Directeur Général covering both the Chairman and Chief Executive roles. Combining the two roles is a controversial move; whether the roles should be split in organisations has been an ongoing debate for many years. Since the Cadbury report in 1991, listed companies in the UK have adopted the approach of separating the role of CE and Chairman as part of their corporate governance regime. The main reason behind splitting the role is to bring increased oversight. Indeed, the Chairman and CEO should have very different roles, with the Chairman responsible for looking after the interests of shareholders, having the right to hire or fire the CEO if he is not looking after the business!
However, the split role is far more common in the UK than in the US; just look at Apple and Steve Jobs (there wasn’t actually any Chairman at all until Jobs stepped down from the CE role and took on the role of Chairman). Additionally, of the other French SITS companies, Atos has Thierry Breton as Chairman and CEO, Steria has Francois Enaud as Chairman and CEO, and Sopra has Pierre Pasquier as Chairman and CEO. So Capgemini is actually now in line with its country peers.
Capgemini argues that the successful journey that the company has taken over the last ten years has a lot to do with the “remarkable alignment which was the hallmark during all these years of the relations between Chairman and CEO”. I.e. there’ll be even better alignment if they are the same person! Hermelin will now need to prove that he has the skills and strength of character to make the dual role a success.