Paul du Saillant is Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Deputy CEO) of EssilorLuxottica.
He joined Essilor in 2008, after 20 years spent at Air Liquide, where he held operational and strategic leadership roles at group level across businesses, geographies, as well as R&D, engineering and IT.
Between 2002 and 2007, he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Belgian Group Lhoist.
Over 13 years, he has been responsible for managing key business & corporate functions
of the Essilor Group. In July 2010, he was appointed co-Chief Operating Officer, responsible for both large geographic zones (Europe, Asia and Latin America) and cross-functional global functions (Human Resources, R&D, industrial activities, transformation program, IT, etc.), then of Essilor’s Lens business since 2017. In March 2020, he became Chief Executive Officer of Essilor.
While maintaining his responsibilities at Essilor, Paul du Saillant was involved in the business combination between Essilor and Luxottica since January 2017. In close collaboration with Francesco Milleri and his teams,he is actively working on the integration and the synergy plans of the three companies. He defines the Group's strategy with Francesco Milleri and ensures its execution and performance. He was appointed as Deputy CEO of EssilorLuxottica in December 2020.
Paul du Saillant brings to the Board 37 years of international experience in world-class groups with successful long-term strategy, values and global/local presence. He contributes detailed knowledge of the optical industry, markets and technology as well as of human and sustainability aspects.