Interview with Michel Dancoisne, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
The firm's CSR approach has been greatly strengthened in recent years. What are the main actions undertaken in 2021/22?
During the 2021/22 fiscal year, Wavestone has given a new impetus to its CSR policy by re-expressing its ambition through five commitments: client satisfaction, employee commitment & well-being, diversity & inclusion, corporate citizenship, ethics & responsibility, and environment.
During the year, the firm met or exceeded its objectives in terms of deployment of its responsible consulting approach, employee commitment, gender equality, societal commitment and reduction of its carbon footprint.
However, Wavestone still has room for improvement in 2022/23 in terms of client satisfaction and employee retention, which is below our objectives for 2021/22, and with regard to the CDP rating, where we are behind our ambitions. In this respect, Wavestone has decided to strengthen its contribution to the climate challenge by setting targets for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and 2050, in accordance with the Net-Zero Standard.
As Chairman of the firm's governance body, how do you support these CSR actions?
Wavestone has been committed to a CSR approach for ten years now and has made it a key part of its corporate strategy, in which the Supervisory Board is fully involved.
In December 2021, the Supervisory Board decided to set up a CSR Committee composed of 4 members, which became operational on April 1, 2022. The creation of this committee is also in line with the new recommendation of the Middlenext code. This committee is chaired by an independent woman: Marlène Ribeiro.
Its mission, in conjunction with the firm’s CSR manager, Hélène Cambournac, is to oversee the implementation of the CSR policy in order to enable Wavestone to rank among the top 5% of companies in terms of CSR performance, an objective set out in the Impact plan.
The Impact strategic plan also includes a governance component. Can you tell us a little about it?
Impact aims to prepare the future of Wavestone, in terms of expertise, identity and values, international development, but also to lay the foundations for its future development in terms of governance.
In this respect, a change in the governance structure will be submitted to the vote of the shareholders at the next general meeting in July 2022, to change from a Management Board and Supervisory Board to a Board of Directors. I will therefore not seek a new mandate as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at the end of my current term of office, and it will be proposed that Pascal Imbert become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company and Patrick Hirigoyen Chief Operating Officer. I will continue to sit on the Board of Directors.
In order to comply with good governance practices, it is also planned that the Board of Directors will appoint from among its members an independent lead director responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of this new form of governance.
The structuring of Wavestone’s management will continue throughout the plan, in order to begin a transition to a new management team as of 2025. Once this transition is completed, Wavestone plans to return to a dual governance structure separating the functions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Regardless of these moves, Pascal Imbert and I intend to maintain our position as reference shareholders, serving the long-term development of the firm.