New CEO for Viadeo

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Renier Lemmens, New CEO of VIADEO (Photo: Business Wire)

Viadeo (FR0010325241- VIAD, eligible for the PEA-PME [savings plan for small and medium-sized companies]), France’s leading Professional Social Network¹, turns a new page in its history with the appointment of a new CEO, Renier Lemmens.

At its meeting of 15 January, Viadeo’s Board of Directors decided to appoint Renier Lemmens as Chief Executive Officer to replace Dan Serfaty, a co-founder of the company, who submitted his resignation to the Board. The aim of both the Board and Dan Serfaty is to give the company a new management impetus in order to successfully implement this new cycle of growth and development for Viadeo.

Renier Lemmens, 51, has had an outstanding international career, which led him to manage complex issues resulting in highly remarkable development successes. Formerly the CEO of Paypal Europe, he led the company as it recorded extremely significant growth rates. He holds a Master's degree in IT from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands and also studied in France, where he earned an MBA from Insead. Renier Lemmens began his career as a consultant with Arthur D. Little, quickly becoming a partner at McKinsey & Company. He then held the position of COO of Barclay’s "international retail and retail banking” division. More recently he was a partner in the Ramphastos Investments fund, with responsibility for the technology portfolio.

"We are going to work very hard on differentiating Viadeo’s offer by building on the enormous reservoir of data and links of our millions of members,” explains Viadeo’s new CEO Renier Lemmens. "My goal is to make Viadeo the number one destination for jobs and professionals. The markets in which we are active are extremely dynamic and offer a potential in which the company has its rightful place.”

The arrival of Renier Lemmens, whose goal is to accelerate the strategic repositioning of the company in order to launch a new growth phase, gives Viadeo an experienced manager who has demonstrated his ability to work in complex and rapidly changing environments.

Viadeo’s board also asked Dan Serfaty to give the new management team the benefit of his experience with the company. He will be involved as a senior advisor to Renier Lemmens.

"As a founder and shareholder, my wish is that this company, which has developed as a result of the substantive work carried out by its teams over many years, can develop the best assets to begin this new phase in its history”, explains Dan Serfaty.

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Next financial communication:

Annual revenues for 2015, 29 February 2016

About Viadeo

Viadeo is one of the world’s leading professional social networks. The leader in France with over 10 million members, Viadeo offers professionals, both companies and individuals, whatever their business sector or location, the opportunity to optimise their potential and professional success. Strengthening your professional network, increasing your visibility, developing your employability, finding a new job: Viadeo offers its members online all the keys they need for hiring and employment. For additional information, visit the corporate website at viadeo.com

¹ Viadeo estimates based on the number of registered members of the group compared with the number of registered members published by its two main competitors as indicated on their respective websites.

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