Ubisoft to appoint two new directors, giving board independent majority

Ubisoft has revealed its intention to expand its board of directors with two new members, the publisher announced yesterday, taking the total number of board members to 11 should they get approved.

Crucially, the appointments of Corinne Fernandez-Handelsman and Virginie Haas will both be as independent directors, meaning Ubisoft’s board will have an independent majority come September 22nd 2017 when Ubisoft holds its annual general shareholder meeting – a move that no doubt help safeguard the company from any further takeover activity from Vivendi.

Provided the board approves, it will mean Ubisoft has five female directors, constituting almost half of its entire board.

Fernandez-Handelsman is currently a partner at recruitment agency Progress, while Haas has spent a large portion of her career at IBM. More recently, Haas joined fraud detection software start-up Shift Technology as chief revenue officer.

Yves Guillemot, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft, said:"We are delighted to continue the expansion of our Board of Directors with the nominations of Corinne and Virginie as independent directors. If their appointments are approved by our shareholders at the next general meeting, our Board will have an independent majority, and nearly half of the directors will be women.

"This development reflects our desire to comply with the best corporate governance practices for the benefit of all our shareholders, while also combining the necessary expertise and competencies for Ubisoft’s long-term success.

"At a time when the Group’s model is transforming, Corinne and Virginie will add valuable and leading-edge expertise to the Board. We will benefit from Corinne’s experience in talent recruitment and management in technology-driven industries, and Virginie brings detailed knowledge of change and hyper growthmanagement, coupled with expertise in artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing."