The waltz of leaders continues within the Orange staff. After the departure of the financial director, Ramon Fernandez, announced a month ago, the French group indicates that Fabienne Dulac, the general manager of Orange France, will leave her functions at the end of the first quarter of 2023. In office since 2015, she will nevertheless continue to sit on the executive committee and will contribute to the deployment of the operator’s strategic plan, which is due to unveil its priorities until 2030 on February 16.
At the head of Orange France, Fabienne Dulac will be replaced on April 3 by Jean-François Fallacher, general manager of the Spanish subsidiary of the group since September 2020, responsible for straightening it out because it has been badly abused in recent years by fierce competition.
To regain a positive dynamic on the other side of the Pyrenees, Orange has also decided in 2022 to merge its activities with MasMovil in order to create a heavyweight on the Spanish market, capable of competing with Telefonica, the incumbent operator. national. Jean-François Fallacher, who led the group’s activities in Poland between 2016 and 2020, is therefore preparing to leave the Spanish subsidiary on a good note, since it returned to growth in the third quarter of 2022. In Spain, he will hand over to Ludovic Pech, Orange’s current finance director for the Africa/Middle East zone.
A sharp strategic plan expected on February 16
Movements in the direction of the operator have been increasing for several months. In 2022, Paul de Leusse thus released orders from Orange Bank, taken over by Stéphane Vallois, while Aliette Mousnier-Lompré was chosen to become the new boss of Orange Business Services (OBS), the B2B branch of the group. once one of its growth engines.
With profitability not expected before 2024, there is no question for Christel Heydemann, who became CEO of Orange last year, to embark on risky and expensive projects. Consequently, the strategic plan presented in mid-February should be accompanied by an overhaul of the group’s management and a reassessment of diversification projects.
The first signals have already been sent in recent months, in particular the sale of OCS to the Canal+ group at the start of the year. And for good reason, OCS has been losing money since its launch in 2008. In this context, Christel Heydemann is thinking of separating from other activities of the operator, loss-making and far from its core business. The forthcoming strategic plan should therefore create a stir internally.
