Maurice Lévy is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group. He joined Publicis in 1971 as IT Director, and was named CEO of Publicis Groupe in 1987, a role that he fulfilled for 30 years. Maurice Lévy fast-forwarded along the globalization path, he went full steam ahead to gain scale through unprecedented and iconic M&A operations - Saatchi & Saatchi in 2000, Bcom3 in 2001, home of Leo Burnett and Starcom MediaVest - and he dared to change the balance of Publicis craft so it can keep winning: having invested massively in digital from 2006 onwards, with the acquisition of Digitas, he acquired Sapient in 2015, hence expending Groupe’s skills to consulting and technology. Over 30 years, with Maurice Lévy at the helm until being named Chairman of the Supervisory Board in June 2017, Publicis Groupe revenue grew 44 times, while market capitalisation was multiplied by close to 100.

 

Maurice Lévy has been a long-standing supporter of technology and innovation at large. In 2006, he co-authored the report on L’Economie de l’immatériel (Intangible Economy) that contributed to laying the foundation of a holistic tech ecosystem in France. In 2011, in parallel with the G8 summit, he was asked to organize the e-G8 Forum in France aimed at promoting the digital economy. In 2012, Orange and Publicis Groupe joined forces within Iris Capital to set up the largest European multi-corporate venture capital fund dedicated to digital activities. In 2016, Publicis Groupe and Les Echos jointly created Viva Technology, a global event focusing on cooperation between large groups and start-ups, successfully putting Paris on the global digital map.

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At the very same time, Maurice Lévy is deeply committed to ensuring technology can benefit society by and large, he who invented the expression “uberization” in 2014 to describe the new economy of platforms and its vast impact on society. In 2018, President Macron and Maurice Lévy created the Tech for Good summit, which gathered 50 world-class tech CEOs to draft recommendations hopefully able to cope with key societal challenges, such as employment, gender equality and education. 

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Widely recognized as a leading figure in the communications industry, Maurice Lévy also co-founded the French Brain Institute (ICM) in 2005. He serves as Chairman for several entities, including the International Board of Governors for the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, and the Pasteur-Weizmann Institute since 2015. Maurice Lévy has been honored with numerous distinctions and accolades for his contributions to media, business leadership, and tolerance. Maurice Lévy holds the distinctions of Commandeur of the French Légion d’Honneur and Grand Officier of the Ordre National du Mérite.