TITLE: Deputy CEO, Chief Financial Officer
COMPANY: Renault Group
BASED: Paris, France
AGE: 53
NATIONALITY: French

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Delbos was named chief financial officer at Renault Group in 2016, but her responsibilities expanded in 2020 when she was given the titles of deputy CEO to Luca de Meo and CEO of Renault’s new Mobilize mobility services business unit. She joined Renault as group controller in 2012. Delbos, who has a degree from EM Lyon, started her career at PriceWaterhouse in Paris. In 1992 she joined the Pechiney Group, an aluminum conglomerate, where she held various positions in finance and management. She continued with the company through acquisitions by Alcan and Apollo Global Management prior to joining Renault.  

REASON FOR WINNING

Renault Group has faced unsettled times since Clotilde Delbos won her first ANE Eurostar award in 2018 as chief financial officer. The French executive, then relatively new to the car business, has been through the ousting of two CEOs, Carlos Ghosn and Thierry Bollore, a last-minute unsuccessful merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and seven months as interim CEO ahead of the arrival of Luca de Meo as Bollore’s permanent replacement in July 2020.

Through all of that, Delbos kept Renault Group sailing though troubled waters, representing the only continuity in the company’s top executive ranks for more than two years. She was key in developing the group’s 2 billion-euro savings plan in early 2020, and was rewarded by being appointed to the additional roles of deputy CEO and head of Renault’s new Mobilize mobility services division. Mobilize is considered the group’s fourth brand, after Renault, Dacia and Alpine, and is considered a long-term key to new revenue and profits.