Ubisoft further strengthens its Board with the proposed nomination
of two new highly qualified independent directors
Ubisoft further
strengthens its Board with the proposed nomination of
two new highly
qualified independent
directorsCritical role of Lead Independent
Director reaffirmed with appointment of Claude France, recent Board
joiner
Paris, July
10, 2023 –
Ubisoft is continuously adapting its organization to best respond
to the rapidly changing industry while accelerating on the
execution of its strategy. In this context, the Company is
strengthening its Board of Directors with a view to further
enriching the diversity of skills and expertise of its independent
members. To that end, the Board of Ubisoft has proposed the
nomination of two new independent directors with strong
international executive backgrounds at its upcoming September
Annual General meeting (AGM). Claude France, who joined the Board
in July 2022 to bring her digital and tech expertise as well as her
experience in managing large scale organizations, will be appointed
as the new Lead Independent Director as well as Chairwoman of the
Audit & Risk Committee.
Proposed
nomination of two new independent
Directors
Ubisoft’s Board of Directors, upon the
recommendation of the Nomination, Compensation and Governance
Committee, has decided to submit to the vote of shareholders the
appointment of Katherine Hays and Olfa Zorgati, as new independent
board members.
Katherine Hays (47) has more
than 20 years of experience across esports, gaming, advertising,
media and entertainment as an entrepreneur and executive. She is
currently an independent member of the Board of Technicolor
Creative Studios (since 2022), serves as an advisor to numerous
esports start-ups, and is a senior advisor to institutional
investors within the United Arab Emirates. In 2008, she was
appointed as the CEO of Genarts, Inc., based in Cambridge, USA, and
led the company to become the top provider of special effects
software for the professional market. In 2003, she co-founded
Massive, an in-game advertising company until its acquisition by
Microsoft in 2006. She started her career as an equity research
analyst at Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs. Katherine holds
an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Art from
Princeton University and is of American nationality.
Olfa Zorgati
(49) has extensive financial and management
experience, with a deep expertise in technology. She is currently
Chief Financial Officer as well as Executive Vice-President
Operations and is on the Executive Committee of ESI Group, a c.€1bn
market cap software and technology company listed on Euronext
Paris, which she joined in 2018. She was the CFO of MetaPack
(2016-2017), a London-based global SaaS leader for e-commerce
logistics systems. Prior to this, she was CFO, then COO, of
VentureBeat (2013-2015), based in San Francisco, USA. Olfa started
her career with Société Générale in mergers and acquisitions and
with Vivendi at various finance functions. She holds an MBA from
HEC Paris and is a dual Tunisian and French citizen.
The Board has carried out this evolution of its
composition through a thorough and diligent process, over several
months, led by the Nomination, Compensation & Governance
Committee with the support of Egon Zehnder, a leading international
executive search firm. Profiles considered included highly skilled
candidates with significant international experience as CEO/CFO or
directors of listed companies and/or relevant expertise in the
technology, entertainment, or video game industries.
Should the AGM approve the nomination of the two
proposed candidates, half of the independent members of the Board
will have been renewed over the past 12 months.
These candidates will succeed two Board members:
as planned, Didier Crespel will not be renewed at the upcoming AGM.
Florence Naviner has expressed her wish to allocate more time on
professional ventures and has therefore requested to be relieved
from her Board position as of the next AGM.
New Lead Independent Director
and additions to
committees
Over the past decade, Ubisoft’s Board has
demonstrated its commitment to continuously adapting its governance
to the best standards. To that end, the Board created the Lead
Independent Director (LID) role in 2016, added independent
directors so that they comprised a majority of all Board members in
2016. The Audit Committee and the Nomination, Compensation and
Governance Committee have been fully independent since 2013. The
Board also complied with the Copé-Zimmermann law to have at least
40% gender diversity by 2017. If the two candidates proposed by the
Board are approved by shareholders, the Board will have female
representation of 55%.
In line with these guiding principles, Ubisoft
today announces that Claude France, who had joined Ubisoft’s Board
as an independent director of Ubisoft in July 2022, has been
appointed as the new Lead Independent Director (LID), replacing
Didier Crespel. Throughout her career, Claude has held various
leadership positions in Tech and digital businesses, including most
recently as a member of the Executive Committee of Worldline, a
CAC-40 global leader in payment technologies where she managed a
business unit of 4,000+ people as well as significant
transformation projects.
Additional evolutions to the Board composition
have been implemented with the appointment of Claude France as
Chairwoman of the Audit & Risk Committee. Given their profiles
and extensive financial expertise, the two proposed director
candidates would be ideally positioned to contribute to the work of
the Audit & Risk Committee in due time.
Lionel Bouchet, as employee representative, is
joining the Nomination, Compensation & Governance Committee, in
line with French AFEP-MEDEF recommendations. As a reminder,
Ubisoft’s Board of Directors includes three employee
representatives.
Yves Guillemot, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, said: “We are committed to continuously adapting Ubisoft’s
organization, including its Board, to best respond to the rapidly
changing industry, while accelerating on the execution of our
strategy to reach a significantly larger audience and grow our
recurring revenues. We are pleased to present to our shareholders’
vote two highly qualified candidates, Katherine Hays and Olfa
Zorgati. With their appointment and together with the additional
Director refreshments made over the last 3 years, we further
strengthen the Board with a diverse set of relevant skills,
experiences and perspectives to the benefit of Ubisoft and its
shareholders. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would
like to thank Didier Crespel and Florence Naviner for their
commitment and key contributions to the Board’s work."
About Katherine HaysKatherine
Hays (47) has more than 20 years of experience across esports,
gaming, advertising, media and entertainment as an entrepreneur and
executive. She started her career as an equity research analyst at
Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs, where she covered global
media companies including AOL Time Warner, Disney, and News Corp.
In 2003 she co-founded Massive, an in-game advertising company, and
served as its CFO and COO until its acquisition by Microsoft in
2006. She was then appointed as Senior Director, MSN and Microsoft
Startup Labs at Microsoft. In 2008, Katherine became the CEO of
Genarts, Inc. She grew the company to become the top provider of
special effects software for the professional market and
successfully transitioned the company to a subscription-based
revenue model. In 2016, she founded Vivoom, a platform designed to
help brands co-create mobile content with customers. She is
currently an independent member of the Board of Technicolor
Creative Studios (since 2022), serves as an advisor to numerous
esports start-ups, and is a senior advisor to institutional
investors within the United Arab Emirates. Katherine holds an MBA
from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Art from Princeton
University and is of American nationality.
About Olfa
ZorgatiOlfa Zorgati (49) has extensive financial
and management experience, with a deep expertise in technology. She
is currently Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice-President
Operations and is on the Executive Committee of ESI Group, a c.€1bn
market cap software and technology company listed on Euronext
Paris, which she joined in 2018 and where she implemented a full
strategy and culture shift. From 2016 to 2017, she held the
position of CFO at MetaPack, a London-based global SaaS leader for
e-commerce logistics systems. Prior to this, Olfa was CFO, then
COO, at VentureBeat, a leading media covering transformative tech
in San Francisco, USA, where she played a key role in the
transformation of their business model (subscriptions vs.
advertising revenues) which led to a period of strong growth.
During these years, she focused on the introduction and
implementation of agile methodologies and the transformation of
internal processes. Among her other experiences, she spent three
years with Ventadis, an independent multi-channel distribution
group and subsidiary of the M6 group, and seven years with Vivendi,
where she held various positions in finance and mergers &
acquisitions. Olfa began her career with Société Générale in
mergers and acquisitions. She holds an MBA from HEC Paris and has
extensive experience in e-commerce, media and SaaS technology
companies. Olfa is a dual Tunisian and French citizen.
Full details about the resolutions to be
presented for shareholder approval at the 2023 AGM will be
published on Ubisoft website on July 20, 2023.
Contacts |
|
Investor Relations Jean-Benoît RoquetteSVP
Investor Relations+ 33 1 48 18 52
39jean-benoit.roquette@ubisoft.com |
Press Relations Fabien Darrigues Director
of Global Communications fabien.darrigues@ubisoft.com |
Alexandre
Enjalbert Investor Relations Director + 33 1 48 18 50 78
alexandre.enjalbert@ubisoft.com |
|
About Ubisoft Ubisoft is a creator of
worlds, committed to enriching players’ lives with original and
memorable entertainment experiences. Ubisoft’s global teams create
and develop a deep and diverse portfolio of games, featuring brands
such as Assassin’s Creed®, Brawlhalla®, For Honor®, Far Cry®, Tom
Clancy’s Ghost Recon®, Just Dance®, Rabbids®, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow
Six®, The Crew® and Tom Clancy’s The Division®. Through
Ubisoft Connect, players can enjoy an ecosystem of services to
enhance their gaming experience, get rewards and connect with
friends across platforms. With Ubisoft+, the subscription service,
they can access a growing catalog of more than 100 Ubisoft games
and DLC. For the 2022–23 fiscal year, Ubisoft generated net
bookings of €1,739 million. To learn more, please
visit: www.ubisoftgroup.com.
- Governance Press Release _EN
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