Global technology company Cegid has appointed Bruno Vaffier as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). In his new role, Vaffier will be responsible for leading the CFO Office, which oversees finance, IT, legal, M&A, and purchasing departments. Additionally, Vaffier will lead the customer experience and customer care teams and oversee the operational and financial performance of Cegid's cross-functional Professional Services activities.
Bruno Vaffier expressed enthusiasm about joining Cegid and contributing to its next stage of growth. "I am very excited by the opportunity to join Pascal and the team to contribute to Cegid's next stage of growth. Cegid's commitment to Generative AI opens immense opportunities for our clients, and I am looking forward to working with the COO Office on the execution of Cegid's Forward.ai strategic plan to accelerate the company's development in France and internationally," Vaffier said. "My focus will be on ensuring our customers have the best end-to-end experience and satisfaction, on pushing AI adoption to improve internal efficiency, and on conducting major transformation projects to support Cegid's business and financial performance. It is a privilege to join such a leader in the software space."
This appointment coincides with Cegid's Forward.ai plan, which aims to pioneer the adoption of generative artificial intelligence in business management software solutions. The plan intends to deliver innovative and useful solutions to drive greater efficiency for its customers. Cegid's CEO Pascal Houillon remarked on the new strategic direction: "Generative artificial intelligence is Cegid's new DNA. It represents a profound change that paves the way for new growth opportunities for the company. Our strategic plan Cegid Forward.ai, launched last October, clearly and sustainably defines Cegid's aspirations for the coming years, marked by a major technological disruption."
Houillon further highlighted Vaffier's role in the implementation of this plan. "The acceleration of the adoption of our solutions by our 500,000 clients worldwide is accompanied by new needs. By investing heavily in the most cutting-edge technologies, such as generative AI, we continue our mission of useful innovation by contributing to defining the future of our clients' professions. Bruno Vaffier's experience will be highly valuable in ensuring and managing the implementation of our plan across each of our markets," he stated.
Christian Lucas, Managing Partner of Silver Lake and Vice-Chairman of Cegid Group's Board of Directors, also welcomed Vaffier's appointment. "Bruno Vaffier brings a wealth of expertise to Cegid gained from more than two decades of experience in top management positions, focused on finance and operations in international industry leaders. Silver Lake is committed to continued, long-term support of Cegid's ambitious growth strategy as a European cloud software leader, and we are very excited to be working together with Bruno on accelerating this path even further," said Lucas.
Bruno Vaffier's previous experience includes serving as CFO of Webhelp from 2016 to 2020 before being appointed Managing Director. He also held various managerial positions at the Atos group for nearly 15 years and was CFO of Worldline Global, a subsidiary of Atos, from 2014 to 2016. His international experience, particularly in Iberia, is expected to be valuable in his new role at Cegid.
Vaffier is a graduate of the École Polytechnique and holds an MBA from the INSEAD Business School. He officially joined Cegid on June 10, 2024.
