Danone S.A. announced that two senior leaders have been co-opted to join the Board of Directors as independent members: Gilbert Ghostine, currently Chief Executive Officer of Firmenich; Lise Kingo, former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact. Gilbert Ghostine and Lise Kingo will join Danone's Board of Directors from October 15th and December 1st respectively. They will replace Guido Barilla, who decided to step down from the Board by anticipation, and Cécile Cabanis, who left the Board on June 30th.

Gilbert Ghostine is the Chief Executive Officer of Firmenich, the Swiss largest private fragrance and taste company in the world. Since joining Firmenich in 2014, Gilbert has championed digital innovation, led the strategic repositioning of Firmenich into Natural, Biotech and Life Science leadership, and driven its growth into a recognized global leader in Environmental, Social and Governance. Under Gilbert's leadership, Firmenich has delivered strong and consistent organic growth whilst securing 14 strategic acquisitions, culminating in the planned merger with DSM in the first half of 2023.

Gilbert's tenure as Firmenich Chief Executive Officer will end in 2023, once the merger with DSM is achieved. Prior to joining Firmenich, Gilbert worked for 21 years with Diageo, holding several senior leadership roles across four continents. In July 2022, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Gilbert is a Lebanese-national and holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Saint Joseph University, Lebanon. He also completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. Lise Kingo is an Independent Board member of Sanofi and Covestro, as well as a non-executive Board member of the investment company Aker Horizons.

Between 2015 and 2020, she was the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative uniting business to create a better world through universal principles and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. From 2002 to 2014 Lise was Executive Vice President, member of the Executive Management team, in Novo Nordisk with global responsibility for Compliance, HR, Communications and Sustainability. She spent more than 25 years in the company in various international business roles and was instrumental in defining the company's sustainable business strategy and strong brand.

A native of Denmark, Lise holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Aarhus in Denmark, a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Economics from the Copenhagen Business School and a master's degree in Responsibility & Business from the University of Bath in the UK. Furthermore, she is certified as an international Board member by INSEAD. On July 29, 2021, Danone announced the complete renewal of its Board of Directors: all current Directors – with the exception of Gilles Schnepp and the two Directors representing Employees – will be leaving the Board of Directors by the 2023 Shareholders' Meeting.

In the meantime, Danone will propose the election of new, externally-recruited Directors, with the objective of constituting a more independent and compact Board of Directors featuring the right blend of FMCG-experience, capabilities and perspectives.