Philippe Varin: Tackling Extraordinary Difficulties

Philippe Varin is the Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën the French car giant. He has held this position since June 2009. It can’t be said that many people envy him. He took over the position from the previous chairman whose contract was terminated. As was mentioned by Thierry Peugeot, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, the automotive industry was experiencing extraordinary difficulties. To help them tackle the very serious problem they turned to Philippe.

Philippe did not come from the ranks of PSA. He came from Corus where he was the Chief Executive. He joined Corus as Chief Executive in April 2003. Philippe was quickly able to turn around the problematic and money-losing Anglo-Dutch steel firm.  He then successfully led the merger of Corus with Tata Steel in March 2007. Philippe was requested to stay on with the enterprise so that a successful integration could be completed.  The PSA Supervisory Board has been hoping Philippe can come up with the same kind of accomplishments at PSA.

Philippe graduated from the top notch French schools Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines. He then joined the company Pechiney in 1978. Philippe rose through the ranks and became a high level executive before eventually joining Corus.

PSA proves a big challenge for Philippe. He has instituted strategic changes such as having two distinct and differentiated brands.  He is also banking on the success of PSA’s alliance with General Motors.

Philippe has currently set up a much leaner management team. The Executive Committee now comprises four members of the Managing Board and nine Executive Vice Presidents reporting to the Chairman of the Managing Board.

There is still much work to do for Philippe and his team. Moody’s Investors Service recently cut PSA’s credit rating one step to four levels below investment grade. The downgrade was due to the contraction in Europe’s care market which puts at risk the car company’s plans to restore cash flow.

The board of directors still has a lot of faith in Philippe he has taken on an enormous challenge and they can only hope that he succeeds.