Muriel Pénicaud


Muriel Pénicaud is a French public official. She was the executive vice president of human resources at Dassault Systèmes from 2002 to 2008, and at Groupe Danone from 2008 to 2014. She served as the French Minister of Labour from 17 May 2017 to 6 July 2020.

Early life

Muriel Pénicaud was born in March 1955. She graduated from Paris Nanterre University.

Career

Pénicaud worked for the French Minister of Labour from 1985 to 2002. She was an advisor to Minister Jean-Louis Bianco from 1991 to 1992, and to Minister René Teulade from 1992 to 1993.
Pénicaud worked for Groupe Danone from 1993 to 2002. She was the Executive Vice-President of Organization, Human Resources and Sustainable Development for Dassault Systèmes from 2002 to 2008. She returned to the Groupe Danone in 2008, where she was Executive Vice-President, Human Resources until 2014. She receives between 2012 and 2014 more than 4,7 million euros of remuneration for this activity. In addition, in April 2013, she realizes a capital gain of 1,1 million euros by dismissing 900 employees.
Pénicaud was appointed as the French Ambassador for International Investment in May 2014, and as the CEO of Business France on 1 January 2015. In this capacity, she promoted foreign investment in France to boost job creation.
Pénicaud became a knight of the Legion of Honour in 2009. She serves on the board of directors of SNCF and Paris-Saclay.
Pénicaud was appointed as the French Minister of Labour on 17 May 2017.

Controversies

A formal investigation has been opened in July 2017 into "possible favouritism" in the organisation of a Las Vegas technology event by Business France under the tenure of Penicaud. The French daily Libération recently underlined that she was suspected of having provided a "truncated overview of the audit" to Business France's board of directors.
As a human resources director at Danone in the 1990s, Muriel Pénicaud made $1.4 million from stock options while cutting 900 jobs, according to Bloomberg.

Personal life

Pénicaud has two children.