Catherine MacGregor, (née Fiamma; born 7 August 1972) is a French businesswoman and engineer. She is the Chief Executive Officer (

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

) of

Engie Engie SA (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...

since 1 January 2021.

Early life and education

Catherine MacGregor was born Catherine Fiamma in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Her parents, both mathematics teachers with Corsican and

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

roots, raised her in

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

until she was 14. She attended Lycée Lyautey there, and later moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with her mother. She pursued higher studies in the field of

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

and engineering, earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering from

École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in 1995.

Career

She joined

Schlumberger Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston ...

in 1995 and remained for 23 years. Her roles included being the group's HR director. From 2013 to 2016, she led operations in Europe &

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In 2017, she became the President of drilling activities in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She was keen on using 3D seismic technology for

enhanced oil recovery Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR), also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted after primary and secondary recovery methods have been completely exhausted. Whereas primary and se ...

while at Schlumberger. In 2020, she became the President of

Technip Energies Technip Energies NV is a French engineering and technology company for the energy industry and Chemical industry, chemicals sector. It is a Corporate spin-off, spin-off of TechnipFMC. History Technip Energies was established in 2021 as a Corpo ...

(based in Paris), a spin-off from

TechnipFMC TechnipFMC plc is a French-American, UK-domiciled global oil and gas company that provides services for the energy industry. The company was formed by the merger of FMC Technologies of the United States and Technip of France that was announced in ...

. Her tenure saw a focus being provided on

energy transition An energy transition (or energy system transformation) is a major structural change to energy supply and consumption in an energy system. Currently, a transition to sustainable energy is underway to limit climate change. Most of the sustainab ...

. The board of the French energy company

named her as the next CEO on 2 October 2020, and she assumed the position on 1 January 2021. During that period, as her predecessor Isabelle Kocher, she held the distinction of being the sole female CEO in France's CAC-40 stock index until Christel Heydemann joined as the CEO of

Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...

. The French Finance Minister,

Bruno Le Maire Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician, writer, and former diplomat who served as Economy and Finance Minister from 2017 to 2024 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in ...

, described it as 'regrettable' that more women were not in similar positions alongside her.

Other appointments

* Advisory member of the Board of Directors of Toulouse School of Economics * Director of French Association of Private Enterprises (AFEP) * Member of the Executive Committee of the

World Business Council for Sustainable Development The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led organization of over 225 international companies. The council is also connected to 60 national and regional business councils and partner organizations. Its origins da ...

(Switzerland) *Director and member of the Association Française des Entreprises pour l'Environnement (EpE) *Board member of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Awards and recognitions

She was awarded the "Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur" (Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

) on December 30, 2020, in recognition of her role as the CEO of an energy industrial group and her 25 years of service. In 2023, she ranked 26th in Forbes list of " World's 100 most powerful women". She was ranked 25th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023.

Personal life

She met her former husband, who is

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

during her time working at Schlumberger. They have two daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacGregor, Catherine 1972 births Living people 20th-century French engineers École Centrale Paris alumni Engie French women chief executives French chief executives French energy industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Casablanca