Governance

Benjamin Smith is a reputed senior airline industry executive at international level, having spent 20 years at Air Canada where he held the positions of President Airlines and Chief Operating Officer. In 1990, while at university, he started part-time as a Customer Service Agent at Air Ontario. In 1992, he followed an entrepreneurial path and established his own retail corporate travel agency, successfully running this business for eight years. In 1999, he also worked as a consultant for Air Canada before joining the airline in 2002. Following his arrival in 2002, Benjamin Smith occupied several positions of responsibility at Air Canada. He became Vice President Network Planning before joining the Air Canada executive management team in 2007 as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. In 2014, he was appointed President Airlines (Air Canada, Rouge, Express, Cargo) and Chief Operating Officer at Air Canada. He assumed overall responsibility for commercial, operations and customer service functions for the Group. He also oversaw Air Canada’s commercial growth strategy. On 16 August 2018, Benjamin Smith was appointed CEO of Air France-KLM, and on 5 December 2018, a member of the Air France-KLM Board of Directors.

Anne Rigail began her career at Air Inter in 1991. In 1996, she was appointed head of Air France Customer Services at Paris-Orly and in 1999, she became head of Passenger and Baggage Connections at Paris-CDG. In 2005, she was promoted head of operations and became VP Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub in 2009. She joined the Air France Executive Committee in 2013 as EVP in-flight services, in charge of cabin crew. Appointed EVP Customer Experience in January 2017, she was appointed CEO of Air France on 17 December 2018. Anne Rigail is a graduate of the Mines Paris Tech business school.

Alexandre Boissy is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He joined Air France in 1999 where he held the positions of consultant, manager and Operations Research Manager until 2014. He was Air France-KLM Operations Research Manager from 2014 to 2016. In 2016, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Air France-KLM CEO and Secretary of the Group Executive Committee. Since September 2018, he has been Deputy General Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Air France-KLM CEO, and SVP Communication, customer studies and Group brand strategy. Since January 2023, he has been General Secretary of the Air France - KLM Group.

Gaël AMAUDRY joined Air France in 1988 and after 15 years in the cargo division, 10 years in IT, 5 years in HR and several mandates as an elected representative in the various bodies, she has been an elected reserve member within the company’s Central Economic and Social Committee since 2019 and a member of the Air France Group’s CFDT executive committee.

Véronique Damon is a Management and Applied Economics graduate of Paris IX Dauphine University and a former student of the National School of Civil Aviation (EPL). She holds an airline transport pilot licence (ATPL). A flight captain on the Airbus A220, she began her career with Air France as a cabin crew member, and received Air France support for her promotion to OPL (airline pilot officer) on the Airbus A320 and then the Boeing B777. Between March 2015 and April 2018, Mrs. Damon was elected titular member of the Flight Operations Works Committee and elected reserve member of the Air France Central Works Council. She was Secretary General of the Air France section of the SNPL union from December 2014 to May 2017 and Director of the APPN (Association in charge of life insurance coverage for flight personnel) from March 2013 to May 2017. She is currently elected titular member of the FCPE Concorde and Majoractions Supervisory Board

Silvia Gonzales holds a Master’s degree in social and economic administration with an option in private business administration. Her first position was in a pension fund for Taitbout Group’s managers. She joined the Air France Group as a service agent in Montpellier in May 1999. She then became a leader before being appointed operational manager in 2021. After having held the positions of staff representative, elected works council member, employee advisor and negotiator of company agreements and union trainer, she was deputy general secretary of the CFDT union in the Air France Group.

Fabrice Huret joined Air France in 2004 as a flight attendant on the medium-haul network and since 2019 has been working on the long-haul network. A staff representative since 2015, he has been a staff representative administrator on the Board of Directors since December 2020. He holds an undergraduate technological diploma in marketing techniques and a degree in human resources.

Following professional studies in accounting and commerce, Djibril KOITA worked in several subsidiaries of the Air France Group (SERVAIR and ACNA) as team manager in aircraft supplies. In 2006, he joined Air France in the Cargo division, where he also worked for the Hub department. Today, he works in the industry as an aircraft movement and flight safety relay instructor.

After obtaining a vocational training certificate (CAP) in auto mechanics, Vincent Salles joined Air France in 1997 as an apprentice at Vilgénis at the Toulouse Industrial Centre, where he obtained a vocational training certificate in aeronautical structure mechanics in 1999. From 2001 to 2003, he participated in the training of structural mechanics by providing technical English training. In 2004, he passed the internal exam for structural technician. In 2005, he joined the CGT union and was elected staff representative in 2007. In 2008, he became secretary of the CGT section of the Toulouse Industrial Centre. From October 2017 to January 2022, he was Co-Secretary General of the Air France CGT union

Francesca Ecsery, who has both British and Hungarian citizenship, is a graduate of Geneva University in Political Science and International Relations, and also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is currently an independent director on the boards of F&C Investment Trust plc, Marshall Motor Holdings plc and CT Automotive plc. After starting her career with McKinsey & Co, Inc, she joined Pepsico, Inc from 1991 to 1994, before joining the Thomas Cook Group (UK) in 1994 as Marketing Director of Thomas Cook Promotions and then Marketing and Sales Director of Going Places Leisure Travel Ltd. From 2001 to 2007, she was Managing Director of STA Travel's international division in London and then appointed Managing Director of Cheapflights Media UK in 2007 before becoming Group Business Development Director from 2009 to 2011. For over 25 years, Francesca Ecsery has developed extensive expertise in the Digital / Retail / Travel industry. She has invested in a number of start-ups and was the founder and director of Advantage Portugal, a provider of personalised business services to foreign investors in Portugal.

Bruno Mettling is a graduate of the IEP political science institute of Paris and the Aix en Provence law school. In November 2018, he founded and is chairman of Topics, a consultancy firm in internal transformation strategy. He began his career at the budget department of the Ministry of Finance before holding a succession of posts within different ministries. In 1995, Bruno Mettling was appointed Financial Controller and Deputy Vice President Finance for La Poste group. In October 1999, he joined the Caisse nationale des Caisses d’Epargne where he reformed the Human Resources department, before being given responsibility for sales development and the strategic plan. He joined the Banque Populaire Group in October 2004 as Executive Vice President Banque Fédérale des banques populaires where he was appointed Deputy CEO on 1st July, 2006. In April 2010, he joined France Télécom in a social crisis context. As Group Executive Director and Human Resources Director, he was appointed Executive Vice President of the Orange Group on 1st November, 2011. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orange in Africa and the Middle East from March 2016 to May 2018. On 1st May 2018, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of OMEA until June 2021 when he took over as chairman of EBI SA bank, an international subsidiary of the pan-African banking group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI).

Ursula Saint-Léger holds a degree in History from Sorbonne University. She began her professional career in 1988 as head of recruitment at Cap Gemini, then moved to SOCAR at Saint Gobain from 1992 to 1995. She then worked as a human resources consultant for the French subsidiary of Hewitt Associates from 1995 to 1998, before becoming Human Resources Director for Inergy, a Plastic Omnium Group company, from 1998 to 2002. Ursula Saint Léger was appointed Director of Human Resources at Alstom Transmission and Distribution, now Areva Transmission and Distribution, in June 2002, where she was responsible for implementing and rolling out new HR processes in the Asia-Pacific region, based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. From 2004 to 2009, she was Deputy General Manager Human Resources and Chairman of the European Works Council of a Belgian BEL20 company - Umicore, based in Brussels, Belgium. She was then appointed Head of Human Resources at TAQA, an energy company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where she was a member of the Executive Committee.From 2010 to summer 2018, she was Human Resources Director of the American company AptarGroup, a member of the Executive Committee and President of the European headquarters based in France. From September 2018 to December 2021, she was Managing Director of Human Resources, Communications and CSR for the Belgian company Aliaxis.Since June 2022, Ursula has been a Partner at AXCEL Partners, managing the Human Resources and Sustainable Development practices.

Bernard Spitz is a graduate of IEP Paris (political science institute), ESSEC business school and ENA. He began his career at the Council of State and the Competition Council. He was a member of the Cabinet for Prime Minister Michel Rocard (Advisor) and for Secretary of State for Planning Lionel Stoleru (Cabinet Director). From 1992 to 1996, he was director of the Canal + group in charge of digital strategy and development. From 2000 to 2004, he was Director of Strategy for Vivendi Universal. From 2004 to 2011, he was in charge of the consulting firm BS Conseil. From 2008 to 2016, he was President of the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA), which he continued from 2016 to 2019 as President of the French Insurance Federation (FFA), which includes the FFSA and GEMA (Group of Mutual Insurance Companies). From 2009 to 2019, he was a member of the governing bodies of the French Employers’ Association MEDEF and a member of the Bureau and the Executive Committee. Since July 2013, he has been President of the International and European Pole. He has also led or contributed to several government missions, taught at ESSEC, Paris IEP and Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, and is the author or co-author of several reports for the public authorities and numerous books.