Giuliano Berretta, now chairman at Eutelsat, but for all of the past 20 years a key figure at Eutelsat, is to retire next month. A Eutelsat board meeting recommended that its upcoming AGM elect Jean-Martin Folz to the position.

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO, said: “The Board is delighted to propose Jean-Martin Folz to join our Board and believes he has all the qualities to assume the role of Chairman, succeeding Giuliano Berretta whose mandate expires in November. Jean-Martin Folz’s extensive business experience on an international scale will add further strength to our Board’s ability to oversee the expansion of our business for the long term, building on the outstanding achievements accomplished under the chairmanship of Giuliano Berretta over the last six years.”

Folz is a graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Mines. He began his career in the French administration where he served in various ministries from 1972 to 1978 before joining Rhone-Poulenc as plant manager. In 1984 he became Chairman and CEO of Jeumont-Schneider. He joined Pechiney in 1987 as CEO and was CEO of Eridania Beghin-Say from 1991 to 1995. Folz joined PSA Peugeot Citroen in 1995 and was the Group’s CEO from 1997 until February 2007. He was Chairman of AFEP (The French Association of private companies) from 2007 to 2010. His other board positions include Alstom, Axa, Saint-Gobain, Societe Generale and Solvay.

Berretta was Eutelsat’s Commercial Director from 1990 until he took over as Director General Jean Grenier in 1998. Berretta masterminded Eutelsat’s progress from a somewhat sluggish non-govermental organisation owned by Europe’s telecommunications companies into a major, and quoted, satellite operator that’s now the world’s third-largest player.

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