Eric Hayat

About Eric Hayat

Éric Hayat is a long-standing figure within Sopra Steria Group and has served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2014. He co-founded Groupe Steria in 1969 and later became its Deputy Chief Executive Officer; he was Chairman of the group at the time of the merger with Sopra in 2014. His career is closely tied to the development of one of France’s major digital services companies, with a strong focus on governance, international expansion and the modernization of large-scale information systems. An engineering graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique, he belongs to the generation of executives who helped establish IT services as a strategic function for both public institutions and private-sector clients. At Steria, he contributed to the group’s growth beyond France and to its diversification across a broad range of business sectors, especially public sector services. Beyond Sopra Steria, Éric Hayat has been influential in the French digital industry as a representative of the sector. He chaired Syntec Informatique from 1991 to 1997 and Fédération Syntec from 1997 to 2003, leading major industry matters such as the introduction of the collective bargaining agreement and the implementation of the 35-hour workweek. He also served on MEDEF’s Executive Committee from 1997 to 2005, where he chaired the committee responsible for negotiating the Research Tax Credit. Since 2000, he has chaired the public-interest group “Modernisation des Déclarations Sociales,” which brings together public bodies, pension organizations, chartered accountants and software publishers to accelerate the digital transformation of social reporting. This background reflects recognized expertise in institutional dialogue, regulatory change and digital transformation programs with broad social impact.