Amparo Moraleda takes over as chair of the Airbus board of directors from this Thursday, 1 October, becoming the first woman and the first Spanish national to hold the post, and breaking with the tradition of appointing a French or German national, at a time that coincides with a staff vote in Spain to resolve the labour dispute.
A director of the aerospace giant since 2015, she succeeds René Obermann, who had previously informed the board of his decision not to stand for re-election as a director at the 2027 Annual General Meeting, the date on which his current term was due to expire.
Amparo Moraleda is a former chair of IBM Spain and a former deputy chair of CaixaBank, and has served on the boards of companies such as Solvay, Vodafone Group and the Danish firm Maersk.
“In taking on this role, I look forward to working closely with my fellow board members, drawing on their extensive experience to ensure that Airbus remains agile, resilient and well-positioned to capitalise on future opportunities and tackle the challenges ahead,” the new chair said in an Airbus statement on Thursday.
For his part, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury wished Moraleda all the best in her future responsibilities, stating that he looks forward to working closely with her and the board to continue driving the manufacturer’s long-term growth and strategic ambitions.
Following Thursday’s board meeting, Airbus also announced other key changes. Aside from the chairmanship, Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, has been appointed to replace Obermann as a non-executive director for the remainder of his term.
Fouquet himself will subsequently stand for a full three-year term at the next annual general meeting, to be held in April 2027.
Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu has informed the board that he will not stand for re-election at the next meeting, once his current term has ended; he will therefore be succeeded by Florent Menegaux, CEO of Michelin, who will stand for re-election as an independent director for a three-year term at the aforementioned meeting.
The new chair of Airbus, Amparo Moraleda, along with Oliver Zipse, former chair of the BMW board of directors, whose terms of office expire at the next meeting, will seek re-election by the shareholders in 2027.
Finally, the board of directors has appointed Mark Dunkerley as chair of the Remuneration, Appointments and Governance Committee and as lead independent director, succeeding Moraleda in this role.
EUROPA PRESS