BENEDICTE DURAND

About BENEDICTE DURAND

Bénédicte Durand is the Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of ALTHEORA, a French industrial group specializing in the transformation of composite materials and polymers. A graduate of EM Lyon, she joined Mecelec Composites in 2015, at a time when the company was facing significant transformation challenges and needed a new development path. She became Managing Director in 2016 and later Chairwoman and CEO in 2024, reflecting a long-term industrial leadership journey centered on restructuring, growth, and strategic renewal. Under her leadership, the company expanded its scope and adopted the ALTHEORA brand in 2021, bringing together a broader industrial ecosystem built around several complementary business lines. Her career is closely linked to the group’s transformation and acceleration. She led the creation of ALTHEORA SHIFT, an innovation accelerator designed to support projects across the company’s ecosystem and strengthen its ability to serve demanding markets such as new mobility, rail, energy, medical applications, and sports and leisure. Her leadership style emphasizes industrial resilience, innovation, and sustainable performance. She has positioned ALTHEORA around a long-term vision that combines decarbonization, CSR commitments, and competitiveness, with the stated ambition of making the group a benchmark mid-sized company in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Beyond her executive role, Bénédicte Durand is active in several professional and sector organizations. She serves as a French foreign trade adviser, sits on the board of MIDDLENEXT and Polyvia Formation, chairs Polyvia Aura, and is vice-chair of POLYMERIS. These roles underline her recognized expertise in industrial governance, plastics processing, innovation, and sector development. Her professional profile reflects a governance approach focused on value creation, industrial synergies, and the strengthening of French reindustrialization through sustainable growth and innovation.