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Elisabeth Carpentier is a member of the Executive Committee of Sodexho Alliance the world leader in food and management services and the Group’s Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. For more than 20 years she has been contributing to the development of Sodexho which today employs 324 000 people in 76 countries. She has played an important role in setting up an organizational structure founded on two key principles decentralization and empowerment to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that has driven the Group’s growth Sodexho is low capital intensive but highly people intensive.
Elisabeth Carpentier joined Sodexho in 1981 as head of hiring and placement for the Remote Sites business. In 1993 she was appointed Vice President Human Resources for Sodexho’s Food and Management Services business in France. In 1981 Sodexho employed 7 000 people but its international expansion created a large number of new posts. Elisabeth Carpentier was responsible for recruiting individuals motivated by the service spirit team spirit and spirit of progress that have driven the Group’s development. In 1992 she played an active role in the creation of the Sodexho Management Institute an international multicultural meeting place for the exchange of experience and viewpoints. Its purpose was to promote the ongoing development of executives within the Group which by this time employed 50 000 people in 46 countries.
Between 1992 and 1998 with the acquisition of Gardner Merchant in the UK and Partena in Sweden then of Marriott Management Services in the United States the Group’s sales increased fivefold while its workforce grew four and a half times. Promoted to Senior Vice President of Human Resources in 1998 Elisabeth Carpentier became a member of the Executive Committee and took on a fresh challenge: to ensure the smooth integration of senior executives joining the Group. The programs developed at the Sodexho Management Institute have helped to strengthen a shared culture build a common managerial vision and capitalize on the skills of Sodexho’s various countries and businesses. With her strong will to motivate and retain employees in April 2001 she helped launch the Group’s international employee savings plan which made the capital of Sodexho Alliance accessible to 19 000 employees in 22 countries.
Persuaded that people make the difference Elisabeth Carpentier is focused on anticipating changes in company structures and building an effective human resources planning system with a ten-year plan that integrates succession plans for our top 200 executives. She is committed to developing future leaders either through internal promotion or by hiring high-level people form the outside and to increasing international representation on our support teams. She is also involved in creating a training system that will meet all personal development objectives ensure equal opportunities for equal qualifications and improve the standing and respect of minorities everywhere in the world.
Elisabeth Carpentier was born in 1954. She is married and has two children. During her spare time she enjoys organizing festive family reunions an activity for which she is especially gifted. A devoted gardener she also loves to travel and discover other cultures. | 