Maurice Lévy

About Maurice Lévy

Maurice Lévy is one of the most prominent figures in French corporate leadership and in the global communications industry. He joined Publicis Groupe in 1971 as an IT director and was soon promoted in 1975 to deputy chief executive of Publicis Conseil, the group’s flagship agency. In 1987, he was appointed chairman of the management board of Publicis Groupe, a role he held for thirty years until May 2017. He then became chairman of Publicis Groupe SA’s supervisory board, and in May 2024 he was named honorary chairman. More recently, on 31 July 2024, he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solocal Group, following the company’s financial restructuring and as part of an effort to streamline governance and improve decision-making speed. At Publicis, Lévy led a long-term strategic transformation. He drove the group’s globalization from the mid-1990s onward and oversaw a series of landmark acquisitions that strengthened its international reach and broadened its capabilities. These included Saatchi & Saatchi and Bcom3 in the early 2000s, followed by Digitas, Razorfish, Rosetta and Sapient, which helped position Publicis at the forefront of digital marketing, data-driven services and consulting. Under his leadership, Publicis evolved into one of the world’s leading communications and marketing groups. He is also widely credited with anticipating the industry’s digital shift and building a more integrated service model around creativity, technology and transformation. In 2016, he launched Viva Technology with Les Echos, which has become a major European event for startups and innovation. Beyond business, Maurice Lévy is known for his involvement in health, research and tolerance-related initiatives, including as co-founder of the French Brain and Spinal Cord Institute (ICM). His reputation rests on strategic clarity, strong execution, and an ability to guide large organizations through structural change and market disruption.