Paris, France – Publicis Groupe has named Nannette LaFond-Dufour as chief impact officer. She will directly report to Arthur Sadoun, the head of Publicis Groupe’s management board.
In this newly created global role, LaFond-Dufour will be in charge of all of the group’s ESG commitments, including Publicis’ ambitious SBTi-approved climate targets and concrete action plans for diversity, equality, and inclusion. She will also be in charge of major initiatives, including Working with Cancer and the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society.
Lafond-Dufour will oversee a dedicated team tasked with connecting the group’s ESG professionals around the world. They will work together to develop and implement a coherent impact strategy with clear and specific performance metrics. Their goal is to improve and grow existing Publicis programs while also integrating new ones, which will benefit both teams and clients.
As a new member of the management committee, LaFond-Dufour will answer directly to Arthur Sadoun, the head of Publicis Groupe’s management board. She will work closely with Agathe Bousquet, who is the president of Publicis France and the management board’s guarantor of ESG obligations.
LaFond-Dufour most recently held the positions of chief sustainability officer and chief client officer at McCann Worldgroup.
Speaking about the appointment, Sadoun said, “With the Directory+ we are delighted to welcome Nannette to the Group.Through our transformation, we have outperformed the industry on all key business and financial metrics over the past four years. But we know that for our growth to be truly sustainable, at all levels, it must also be responsible. That’s why we’ve also worked to lead the way with our best-in-class ESG initiatives. With Nannette at our side and her proven expertise in implementing concrete changes at the heart of some of the world’s largest companies, we are convinced that we can go further and faster in our ESG agenda, for the good of our employees , our customers, and our planet.”
Meanwhile, LaFond-Dufour expressed, “I am very admiring of the transformation carried out by Publicis, demonstrating both its ability to anticipate the future but also to prepare for it by making social and environmental commitments. At a time when evolution is more necessary than ever, I am delighted to join a visionary, courageous and agile team.”