The superlatives to describe Virginie Morgon’s professional career are always laudatory. But at 53, after a faultless career, the finance star has just experienced a first hitch with his ousting from the management of Eurazeo.
Daughter of doctors from Lyon, the leader, born on November 26, 1969, was trained by the Lazard bank where she spent 16 years, after studying at Sciences Po Paris and a master’s degree in economics and management from the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan. At Lazard, she quickly rose through the ranks to become the bank’s youngest managing partner at the age of 32.
In 2008, she joined a former managing partner of Lazard who became head of Eurazeo, Patrick Sayer. The latter will give up his place as Chairman of the Eurazeo Management Board in 2018. Four years later, disagreements with the main shareholder, the Decaux family, push this mother of four children towards the exit, and she is replaced by two presidents.
Dynamic, demanding and frank
“He’s the kind of person who makes you want to give your best. She pulls people up and has become a model for many people who have joined Eurazeo,” an internal source who meets her regularly told AFP. Dynamic with “30 ideas per second”, she is also described as “super demanding” and “frank” – “she was the boss” – while being “a deeply human person, very close to the teams and listening to people “.
Virginie Morgon’s first major operation was the investment in the down jacket brand Moncler in 2011. “I was insulted on the markets”, told Patrick Sayer in 2019 to Le Monde, “allegedly, we knew nothing about it at the time. luxury, it was too expensive. But it was she who was right, thanks to her ability to overlook no detail. It will be one of Eurazeo’s finest successes, earning almost five times the initial outlay.
Virginie Morgon will also manage, among other things, the acquisition of a stake in the Accor hotel group. “If I go to war, I take her with me!” “, had said of her Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor Hotels at World in 2019. “When you look at my professional career, I’m not sure to count many people my age who have only worked for two companies”, remarked to AFP Virginie Morgon when she was appointed head of Eurazeo, when she was Chief Executive Officer and President of Eurazeo North America.
A “role model for young women”
At the time, this female appointment stood out in the very male universe of private equity. “That I am a woman and that I become President of Eurazeo, yes, of course I am very proud of it,” she said. “Would I be all the more proud to be a role model for a number of young women in the investment or banking sector? […] I think I’ve been doing it for many years now.”
Virginie Morgon, with a well-stocked address book, has transformed Eurazeo into an international investment company present in more than ten countries and whose assets under management have increased from 7 billion to 32 billion euros. “She stands out, she is direct, European but globalized and, in New York, her name has become essential in our microcosm. But above all, with her, you can talk about everything: deals, human rights or the promotion of women”, according to Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, quoted in the Sunday newspaper in 2018.
Virginie Morgon is also an independent director of L’Oréal. She is also co-president of Human Rights Watch in France and involved in the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society.