The ESSEC Who Took Part in Paris 2024... Part Two

We've already told you about the forty alumni that were directly involved in organising the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But there are also those who participated in the adventure as partners, service providers, sponsors, volunteers and even athletes. Read on for the diverse list, which will undoubtedly be incomplete... but no less inspiring! 

On the field, it was a double coup this summer for these three athletes who, in addition to competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, also joined ESSEC and the new HEPTA Bachelor's degree, a 'hybrid' programme enabling elite athletes to combine studies, training and championships: Clémence Delavoipière (HEPTA 27), wheelchair fencer; Hélène Karbanov (HEPTA 27), rhythmic gymnast; and Sébastien Patrice (HEPTA 27), bronze medallist in the team sabre event. 

There was also Stéphane Traineau (EXEC M07), former French, European and World judo champion and two-time Olympic bronze medallist, who coached Kazakhstan's national judo team, including gold medallist Yeldos Smetov; and Julien Billaut (EXEC U10), former French, European, World and Pre-Olympic slalom canoeing champion, who coached the national Australian team in his discipline. The Australians recorded their best results ever at Paris 2024, with three gold medals, a silver and a bronze at the Olympics, and a gold, silver and bronze at the Paralympics.  

Not forgetting two Mass Participation Marathon finishers: Charles Rozoy (EXEC PROG 23), who also commentated swimming events for France Télévisions as a French disabled swimmer and Paralympic champion; and Guillaume Lorente (M23), who took to social media to tell his story about running the marathon, a year after suffering burnout.  

Behind the scenes, on the organisation side of things, Corinne Menegaux (E89), Managing Director of the Paris Convention and Tourist Office, had the considerable task of preparing the city for the arrival of 15 million visitors for one month. In Le Figaro, she looks back: "It was a real success in terms of image, as a lever for attractiveness, hospitality and values for the region - perhaps even beyond our expectations.”

Alain Ribat (E87), Managing Director of Transilien at SNCF Voyageurs, also had to manage four million passengers a day at the height of the event. The final result was a punctuality rate of 95% and user satisfaction of 98%. 

Nicolas Dupeux (E02), CEO of Accor Arena and Adidas Arena, oversaw not only hosting but also co-producing Paris 2024 events at these venues. He summed it up on LinkedIn: "8 sports, 1,174 athletes, over a million spectators and a record for our teams, who transitioned between the gymnastics and basketball events in under 17 hours!” 

Augustin Pénicaud (E05), Vice-President of Havas Play, and his teams not only supported the Organising Committee with advertising, social media, branding, press relations, event management and partner sourcing - covering a dozen different markets - but also managed the campaigns of a number of Olympic partners, including Orange, Française des Jeux, Accor and LVMH. 

Benoît Jaubert (E92), CEO of Optic 2000, committed his company as an official supporter of Paris 2024. This partnership included providing athletes with replacement glasses in the event of loss or breakage during the competition, deploying accessibility solutions for visually impaired spectators and supporting a dozen champions, including France’s own Félix Lebrun. 

Liza Bellulo (E00), Secretary General of Bouygues Télécom, ensured cooperation with public authorities to ensure that the network would be sufficiently protected and Paris 2024 would run smoothly. She recounts: "We strengthened our cybersecurity and ensured 24/7 surveillance, given the role of telecommunications in national security.”

Many ESSEC alumni were involved in Caisse des Dépôts' partnership with Paris 2024, which included building part of the Athletes' Village. On the frontline were Olivier Sichel (E89) and Florence Deram (E05), respectively Assistant Managing Director and CFO at Banque des Territoires, and Christelle de Robillard (E08), CFO of Icade - both subsidiaries of the public group. 

Pierre Viriot (E92), EDF's Brand and Image Director, led the Paris 2024 project within the group. As he explained in Reflets Mag #139 in 2021: "The goal of organising Olympics with a positive carbon footprint resonated with our raison d'être. We therefore committed to supplying all the competition venues with renewable energy: solar panels, electric charging points, green hydrogen stations, etc." 

Fabien Moser (BBA 12) is Head of Business for International Sports Events at Loxam, one of the main suppliers of infrastructure for Paris 2024. He was involved in providing all the equipment needed to supply temporary electricity to the competition venues - 40 high-voltage substations, 250 generators and 6,000 kilometres of cable - as well as setting up 1,500 bungalows and 200 temporary containers. 

Bertrand Picard (E05) and his company Natural Grass, Europe's leading manufacturer of elite sports surfaces, won contracts to fit out a large number of Paris 2024 competition venues, including the Parc des Princes in Paris, Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, Golf National and the Albatros course, as well as INSEP, where French athletes train.  

Nicolas Macé (E10), Director of the Paris 2024 programme for Visa, one of the longest-standing sponsors of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, led a number of initiatives: "We built, managed, protected and maintained the payment architecture for the Games, to provide a smooth, fast and secure process for more than 10 million spectators from 200 countries at over 3,500 points of sale in 50 venues across France. We also supported almost 150 athletes - who alone won 100 medals - through our Team Visa scheme, which prepares them for the post-competition period through financial education and a year-long rotation programme in different departments of our group. On top of that, we undertook initiatives in Seine-Saint-Denis to ensure that local residents would not be excluded while the area hosted the Games: setting up and renovating sports pitches, tutoring young people, mentoring young girls, etc. We also provided support for families with disabled children to attend the Paralympic Games. To name just a few!” 

Sophie Bonnier (E07), Head of International Partnerships at Orange, oversaw the entire Paris 2024 program for the operator, both a premium partner and an official supplier to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and also the sole sponsor of the Marathon pour Tous (Mass Participation Marathon). "We provided all the telecommunications solutions for the event: private 5G to ensure network coverage on the competition venues and broadcasting (80,000 terabytes of streaming) to the smartphones of 4 billion viewers, on-board cameras to offer immersive images of the athletes, tactile tablets and audiodescription services for visually impaired spectators, our Push To Talk technology to enable organization, rescue and security teams to communicate securely by voice and video..."

Noémie Claret (E06), EMEA Sports Marketing & Brand Partnerships Senior Lead at Salesforce, led the Paris 2024 partnership for the world leader in data management solutions - having previously been responsible for the Paris 2024 brand at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee. She helped the Organising Committee teams boost their online communications using the Salesforce Customer 360 CRM platform, and a dozen athletes optimise their performance, prevent injuries and fine-tune their training programme using the Tableau data visualisation and analytics platform.   

Armand Claudel (M08), Paris 2024 Partnership Director at Samsung Electronics France, and his team, including Paul Verdier (BBA 22 & M22), Operational Project Manager, rolled out a number of initiatives: official licensed products, smartphones distributed to all athletes at the Games, selfies with the winners, and sponsoring Team Samsung Galaxy with Ugo Didier, Paralympic gold medallist in S9 400m freestyle, Johanne Defay, Olympic bronze medallist in surfing, and Marine Johannes, Olympic silver medallist in basketball. 

Quentin Destabeau (BBA 14), Director of Consulting at Øconnection, won the call for projects for the festivities at the capital's Hôtel de Ville during Paris 2024. In particular, he helped create and run the Terrasse des Jeux, the iconic fan zone, which welcomed nearly one million visitors for key events such as the start of the marathons and the lighting of the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons. 

Olivier Villalon (EXEC PROG 02) and Jean-Victor Clérico (M13), Co-General Directors of the Moulin Rouge, made their mark on Paris 2024 by mobilising their troupe of 80 artists to dance the French Cancan on the banks of the Seine during the opening ceremony and in Pigalle along the route of the cycling events. 

Harold Guillemin (M19) founded the start-up FinX, whose innovative boat named Imagine carried Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Carl Lewis, Nadia Comăneci and the Olympic flame from Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower during the Paris 2024 opening ceremony. A legendary crew for an iconic moment aboard a prototype that could well make its mark on history - or at least on that of maritime transport - featuring a biomimetic propulsion system with no propeller, made from biosourced materials and accessible for people with reduced mobility. 

Manuel Herrero (E96) followed the design and production of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony for 2 years, resulting in a documentary available all around the world. "A journey behind the scenes of the  greatest show ever organized, from the first brainstorms to the final rehearsals on the Seine." To be viewed on France TV, NBC and Discovery in the USA, NHK in Japan, Globo in Brazil, CCTV in China and Olympic Channel everywhere else.

Philippe Cavat (E81), Managing Partner of Alexander Hughes Human Capital, was appointed by the Élysée and the Prime Minister to recruit the Head of the Olympic Games Organising Committee. Out of 70 candidates, he chose Étienne Thobois. 

Cécile Martin (EXEC PROG 16) led the preparations for Paris 2024 at the Ministry of Labour. Back in 2021, she explained in Reflets Mag #139: "The Games provide 150,000 jobs in the construction, organisation and tourism industries. There are therefore four main priorities for public authorities: meeting skills needs; limiting the use of short-term contracts; creating springboards for people who are distanced from the employment market; and ensuring exemplary working conditions.” Her initiatives include support tools for workers whose missions come to an end with the Games and a certificate of skills that is transferable to the professional and NGO world for volunteers. 

In fact, Paris 2024 would not have been possible without its volunteers, including Amroze Adjuward (E13), Charles Blandignères (EXEC M19), Philippe Dailly (E84), Valérie Dailly (E84), Nicolas Delaporte (E80), Estelle Peyen (M99), Castille Reynier (BBA 27), Sandrine Valette (EXEC M22) and many more.

And we can’t forget the torchbearers, including Axelle Ayad (M19), Olivier Cotinat (E08), Marjory Malbert (EXEC M12), Delphine Lau (EXEC PROG 16), Charlotte Letondot (M19), Samuel Loiseau (E98), Alexandra Lucas (M21), Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux (E84), Magali Tézenas du Montcel (EXEC M09) and Sophie Ziché (E03)!

Did you spot other alumni in the Paris 2024 teams? Let us know!

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