Emmanuel Faber

Emmanuel Faber passed his baccalaureat in Gap in the early 1980s.[1] Upon graduation from HEC Paris in 1986, Faber began his career at Bain & Company. He then worked for Barings Bank, before joining Legris Industries in 1993 as Administrative and Financial Director. He became general manager in 1996.[2]

Faber started his career with Bain & Company (1986).[3] He then worked for the investment bank Barings Bank before joining Legris Industries as Chief Administrative and Financial Officer in 1993, and was named Chief Executive Officer in 1996.

He joined Danone in 1997 as head of Finance, Strategies and Information Systems. In 2000, he became Chief Financial Officer of Danone and a member of the Executive Committee. In 2005, he was appointed as Vice President, Asia-Pacific region, in charge of operational activities.[4]

Following the encounter of Franck Riboud and Muhammad Yunus, he initiates the social business joint venture Grameen-Danone Foods, Ltd in Bangladesh. At the end of 2006, he oversees the creation of danone.communities, the first French mutual investment fund carrying social business, and serves as Director of the danone.communities mutual investment fund (SICAV) since 2008.

From January 2008 to September 2014, he served as Deputy General Manager of Danone, responsible for major corporate functions (Finance, Human Resources...), and was named Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors in April 2011.[5]

Invited by Chico Whitaker, he attends the World Social Forum in Belem in 2009.[6]

Faber co-chairs with Martin Hirsch the Action Tank “Business and Poverty”, social experimentation lab, initiated in 2010 by the HEC Paris Chair “Social Business – Enterprise and Poverty”, which gathers companies, civil society organizations and academic spheres together with one common objective: contribute to reducing poverty and exclusion in France.[7]

Since 2011, he has chaired the Strategic Guidance Committee of IEDES (Institute for Economic and Social Development) of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, which amongst others, publishes the “Tiers-Monde” journal.

In 2013, at the request of the French Minister of Development, Pascal Canfin, he writes a report with Jay Naidoo on reforming Official Development Assistance : “Mobilizing actors : a new approach to development aid”.[8]

Together with Michael Lonsdale and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, he was chosen to be one of the three French sponsors of the World Youth Day 2011.[9]

In October 2014, he became the CEO of Danone, succeeding Franck Riboud.[10]

On January 1, 2015, he was appointed Chairman of Danone's Executive Committee.

In June 2016 he gave the commencement address to graduates of HEC where he spoke of the need for people to come together and bring down walls.[11]