Co-operative governance

The Euralis Group is a co-operative. Its shareholders are its 12,000 members, farmers in south-west France. Regulated by the rules on co-operative governance, it operates according to the principles of solidarity, democracy and responsibility. The Group's governance is structured around two main management bodies: the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.

1) The Board of Directors

The Board is composed of 22 directors, all farmers, elected for three years by all the members of Euralis. Its role: to validate the Group's strategic directions. These 22 directors in turn elect 10 of their number to form the Bureau of the Board of Directors, which elects the President. As representatives of the members, they are the true decision-makers for the Group and its strategy.
They ratify all the choices made by the Group, notably the members of the Executive Committee, and check the implementation and outcomes in the field of the decisions they have validated.

Members of the Board of Directors

Christian PÈES (President), Henri BIES-PERE, Mathieu BISCORRAY, Joël BONNEAU, Claudine BOUDASSOU, Stéphane BOUE, Michel BUR, Gabriel CASTAY, Pierre DARTAU, Lionel DEPREZ, Chantal DUCOS, Eric DUMAS, Claude LABERDESQUE, Jean-Louis LACAU, Olivier LADEVEZE, Jean-Claude LABIT, François LACOME, Jean-Louis LAFITAU, Jean-Paul LATASTE, Eric NASSIET, Pierre PAGES, Michel PARTIMBENE, Jean-Michel PATACQ, Dominique TRESSENS.

Members of the Board of Directors

Christian PÈES President

President of the Group since September 2000. He grows 30 ha of maize and rears pigs for producing Bayonne ham at Athos-Aspis (64). A man of action and conviction, he never hesitates when required to adopt a position at national level in order to defend the future of farming in France.

Joël BONNEAU Vice-president

Winegrower at Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde (33) and President of Euralis Bordeaux, he brings the Group his expertise as a winegrower.

Gabriel CASTAY Vice-president

A maize grower and pig farmer at Trie-sur-Baise (65), vice-president of the Hautes-Pyrénées Chamber of Agriculture, he is particularly interested in renewable energy.

Claude LABERDESQUE Vice-president

Produces foie gras and maize at Lay-Lamidou (64). He is chair of the Euralis Palmipèdes producers' association.

Jean-Claude LABIT Administrator

Grows irrigated maize north of Toulouse and durum wheat, sunflowers and rape in the Garonne valley. He has been President of the Euralis Coopéval co-operative since 1999. He is a member of the Haute-Garonne and Midi-Pyrénées Chambers of Agriculture.

Jean-Paul LATASTE Vice-president

Grows sweetcorn, maize and tobacco and rears cattle in the heart of the Chalosse. He has chaired the Maize section of AGPM-ARVALIS and the Euralis Légumes Association.

Pierre PAGÈS Vice-president

Farmer at Viella (32), he was originally a producer of seed and sweetcorn, before diversifying into quality marked poultry. Very involved in the Group in these three sectors, he is also President of CENALDI.

Jean-Michel PATACQ Vice-president

Grows maize, Tarbes beans and forage seeds on the Ger plateau (64). Responsible for developing the collaborative extranet Eureca, he is also President of Euralis Maïs, the Euralis association of maize producers.

Jean-Louis LAFITAU Administrator

Milk, maize and wheat producer on a farm run as a non-family company with 4 partners, he is a town councillor at Castéide-Candau (64) and has a position of responsibility in the Chamber of Agriculture.

Henri BIES-PERE Administrator

A dairy farmer and producer of forage maize and energy maize at Montaner (64), he is also President of the FDSEA 64.

Eric NASSIET Administrator

Producer of seed, sweetcorn and energy maize at Habas (40), he chairs the Group's seed producers' organisation.

2) The Group's management

The members of the management are paid employees reporting to the Board of Directors. These experts in the different sectors within the Group are the true operational actors in Euralis: they suggest the main strategic directions and implement initiatives day to day, under the Board's supervision.

The management is composed of two committees: the Executive Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee.

The Executive Committee

The Group's six main Directors are gathered around Pierre Couderc, the Managing Director. It is responsible for implementing the actions that have been approved by the Board of Directors.

Members of the Executive Committee

Pierre Couderc
Managing Director

Pierre COUDERC is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure des Mines in Paris. He started his career with Michelin and moved to the Danone Group in 1987 where, for 20 years, he held various posts in sales and production management both in France and overseas as well as working as General Manager of several branches of the Group abroad. He became General Manager of the Euralis Group in 2009.

Renaud LELARGE
Deputy Managing Director

Responsible for the Group's secretariat, he is also Director of the Catering Division. He is deeply involved in strategic projects and the diversification operations.

Roger CATALA
Director of the Seeds Division

A graduate of the Higher National School of Agriculture at Purpan and with the Group since 1993.

Marc MARTIN
Director of the Agricultural Products and Distribution Division

An agriculture graduate, he has worked for the Group since 1978.

Philippe SEIN
Director of Human Resources and Organisation

Director of Human Resources. Since 1995, he is also responsible for monitoring the Group's buying and information systems.

Francis BON
Director of the Gastronomy Division

A graduate of the leading French university CNAM, he was formerly Managing Director of HARRY'S France and BARILLA France. He joined the Euralis Group in April 2009.

Frédéric Pellegrin Finance Director

Graduated from Essec Business School (Paris), he started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers France as an Auditor. In 1995, he joined Reckitt Benckiser PLC, the world's leader in home, health and personal care products. There, he held various positions such as Finance Director for Northern Europe, based in London. He became Euralis' Finance Director in March 2010

The Strategic Planning Committee

It is composed by the seven members of the Executive Committee and 38 executives from the divisions' heads. They are then enabled to take part in the strategy development and to provide their team workers with some information.