Philippe Thomazo NAMED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF Ecocert

ecocertECOCERT, the global leader of certification in biological agriculture, has just reinforced its governance by dissociating the functions of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Philippe Thomazo has just been namedCEOof ECOCERT SA, whose historical founder, William Vidal, remains Chairman of the Board.

On July 6th, 2015, upon the proposal of William Vidal (to date Chairman of the Board and CEO), the supervisory board of ECOCERT SA has decided to dissociate the functions of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officerin order to reinforce the governance of the group. Thus, it has named Philippe Thomazo, so far Chief Operating Officer, CEO. William Vidal remains Chairman of the Board.

Aged 46, born in Auch, Philippe Thomazo has joined the SME ECOCERT in October, 2006. He was previously the CEO of Vivendi Universal Games Ibérica, the Spanish subsidiary of Vivendi group, where he was in charge of Spain, Portugal, Middle-East and Latin America markets. Then, seduced by ECOCERT’s values and ambitions of development, notably at the international scale, he chose to integrate the company settled in L’IsleJourdain in the vicinity of Toulouse, France.

Commenting the decision of ECOCERT’s Supervisory Board to name Philippe Thomazo as Chief Executive Officer, William Vidal declared: “The idea gained a foothold across the board, for Philippe Thomazo and I share the same vision of the company’s development. Since his arrival almost ten years ago, he has successfully mobilised his competencies in the structuration of ECOCERT in France and abroad. Under his watch, the action of the direction committee and the implication of the whole staff have permitted to tap into new markets, and to impose ECOCERT (whose perimeter has extended to the certifying organism IMO) as the world leading companyin biological agriculturecertification. The in-depth knowledge Philippe Thomazo has developed of ECOCERT, his grasp of our activities’ economic, ecological and social challenges, his results-focused approach, have made him the natural candidate for the position of Chief Executive Officer”.

Philippe Thomazo - 03Presenting his roadmap, Philippe Thomazostates: “the group shall accelerate its internationalization, in order to consolidate its leadership on its core activities and to broaden its scope through the implementation of new reference frames. This will be notably possible thanks to IMO’s integration within the group. ECOCERT will also value its know-how by diversifying its activities, a strategy that will permit the company to reduce its dependency to the single activity of certification. For instance, we will offer consulting and training services related to environment”.

I fully trust Philippe Thomazo”, William Vidal concludes. From now on, the Chairman of the Board will dedicate himself to the strategic orientation of the group. “We will keep working together to the development of ECOCERT, for it to become an international actor of environmental issues and of the global ecosystem, thus contributing to generalize sustainable practices”.

ECOCERT GROUP: Involved in the development of biological agriculture for more than 20 years, in France and throughout the world, ECOCERT is a historical actor in audits and certifications of biological products.A world leader in the certificationof organic products and biological cosmetics, the Group draws on an international network comprising 29 subsidiaries and 900 collaborators. In 2014, ECOCERT reached a consolidated turnover of 43 million euros, achieved with 50,000 customers in more than 100 countries around the world. Beyond its expertise in the field of certification, ECOCERT encourages the development of best practices by drafting recognized and exacting standards in the environmental fieldand by offering consulting and training services related to environmental issues.

 

1