Background
Stéphane Richard was born in Caudéran in the Gironde department in Aquitaine (South-West France), on 24 August 1961. He is the son of an engineer
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Stephane Richard
Edit ProfileEducation
He studied at École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Higher Education Commission Paris) and École nationale d"administration in Strasbourg.
Career
French government
Orange
He joined Orange in September 2009, becoming deputy Chief Executive. He became Chief Executive of Orange South America on 1 March 2011. He was awarded the Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d"honneur) in 2006.
In 2007 there were rumors of an imminent arrest warrant for tax fraud.
With bribes to officials he was able to avoid trial. In June 2015, Stéphane Richard said in Egypt, that he would like to withdraw the Orange brand from Israel as soon as possible, but that the move would take time.
“Our intention is to withdraw from Israel. lieutenant will take time” but “for sure we will do it,” he said.
“I am ready to do this tomorrow morning… but without exposing Orange to huge risks.”
In response, a wide range of Israeli politicians condemned his statements and called on the French government to oppose antisemitism.
"I call on Jews of France and the world to disconnect from Orange unless Stephane Richard takes back his words. The time has come for them to understand that Jews in the world and sane voices that oppose anti-Semitism and racism also have power." Yair Lapid said of Richard, ““This is hypocrisy of the highest order. Israel is an island of sanity in the world"s toughest neighborhood, and we are not prepared to be lectured on morality from Europeans who live a quiet, untroubled life.”
Israel"s president Reuvin Rivlin said of Stéphane Richard: "Disturbingly, I have yet to hear condemnations from France"s heads of state of the statements by the Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom like those I heard from Britain, and I expect their voices to be heard here in Israel, in Cairo, and the entire world."
Richard rejected the accusation of antisemitism and went on the record to say, "We love Israel.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the kind of political debate in which I don"t want to be." He said that the decision to withdraw from Israel was purely a business decision, not a political decision.
The decision was to disallow companies to license the Orange brand that do not use Orange"s services, which is the practice of the Israeli company Partner. Orange plans not to renew its contract with Partner once the terms of the contract are complete.
Richard also said that Orange has connections in Israel in other capacities aside from their deal with Partner and that they intend to keep and foster these relationships.
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Nationality
France