Caroline Ruellan has over twenty-five years of experience in corporate law and corporate governance.

Member of the Supervisory Board of Ardian France, Caroline Ruellan closely follows the development of many companies in Europe and the implementation of their governance. She was interviewed during the preparatory work for the PACTE Law and in the framework of the Club des Juristes’ working group « SPACs and the attractiveness of French law ». She contributed to the drafting of the Woerth-Dirx parliamentary information report on shareholder activism and to the Paris Europlace report on « Shareholder Governance and Market Practices » (2019-2020). She is a regular speaker on shareholder activism and corporate governance (International Bar Association, Chapter Zero…).

As a member of the Retail Investors Consultative Commission of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), she is at the heart of the market’s discussions on companies and their governance as well as the functioning of financial markets.

Caroline Ruellan has chaired and run the Cercle des Administrateurs (CdA) since 2016. A privileged meeting place, sponsored by INSEAD and The Wharton School, and a partner of Euronext, Chapter Zero and EY, the CdA federates and professionalizes executives and directors of listed and unlisted companies in order to promote responsible corporate governance.

Caroline Ruellan developed a practical expertise in governance issues. She joined the AIG Group, a world leader in financial risk insurance. Appointed Regional Claims Specialist for Europe, she advised executives, directors, listed and unlisted companies, and family businesses in the context of crisis and securities class actions before being appointed Head of Innovation and Institutional Relations.

Caroline Ruellan holds a doctorate in private law and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. She was a professor of law at the University and at the École des Mines de Paris for more than fifteen years. 

Caroline is a former member of the Board of Directors of Atos SE (Nominations & Governance Committee).

LEGAL DOCTRINE ARTICLES

• « L’activisme actionnarial, partie intégrante du capitalisme contemporain », International Journal for Financial Services, 2022
• « Le sort des minoritaires », in Le retrait de la cote, Actes Pratiques, July-August 2017, p. 19
• « Les actionnaires minoritaires, enjeu de gouvernance », Analyse financière n°68, July 2018.

PRESS ARTICLES

• « Mort annoncée du PDG : gare au dogmatisme », Les Echos, May 18th 2023
• « Une évaluation poussée des administrateurs est le gage de l’efficacité du conseil », inteview in L’Agefi, May 11th 2023
• « Le conseil d’administration, élément de l’attractivité de la Place de Paris », Forbes, July 22th 2021
• « L’entreprise face à la complexité », Les Échos, July 15th 2021
• « Le défi activiste de Danone », Forbes, March 2nd 2021
• « Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield : de l’intérêt des activistes à l’intérêt de l’entreprise », Forbes, November 4th 2020
• « Entreprises familiales : hériter n’est pas succéder », Forbes, August 31 2020
• « L’activisme actionnarial renouvelle la gouvernance des sociétés », Le Monde, October 31st 2018
• « Le code Afep-Medef devra évoluer vers un vrai code de Place », L’Agefi Quotidien, June 28th 2018
• « Sociétés cotées, instaurons le dialogue entre le conseil d’administration et les actionnaires », Les Echos, February 3rd 2017.

Hugues advises on all issues of corporate governance and shareholder relations.

Before joining SONJ Conseil in 2020, Hugues worked in several business law firms advising companies and governments on the development and financing of infrastructure projects, notably at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and August Debouzy.

In Brussels, with Gide Loyrette Nouel, he participated in the development of regulatory strategies for motorway and rail transport, biofuels, agri-food and prudential requirements for financial institutions.

For Ethics & Boards, the world’s leading provider of governance data, Hugues has conducted several studies on the independence and diversity of the governance bodies of companies in the luxury goods sector, as well as the transparency and composition of the boards of directors of corporate foundations of CAC 40 companies.

Hugues is a member of the board of the ESSEC Transition Alumni association, whose goal is to promote the issues of climate transition and carbon sobriety in companies, through the actions of ESSEC Business School graduates. In this capacity, he co-leads the pole in charge of the internal transformation of companies.

PRESS ARTICLES

• « Le projet de loi Climat et résilience constitue une double occasion manquée : respecter l’accord de Paris et faire confiance à la science », Le Monde, June 12th 2021