Hinda Gharbi

"The day Bureau Veritas entered the CAC 40, I felt our employees’ pride. It’s a recognition of our expertise and it makes us more visible. It’s also a responsibility."

— Hinda Gharbi

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Overview

Hinda Gharbi
Born	1970 (age 55–56) Tunis, Tunisia
Citizenship	Tunisian; Australian
Education	Electrical engineering; signal processing
Alma mater	École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Électriciens de Grenoble; Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble
Occupation(s)	Engineer; business executive
Employer	Bureau Veritas
Known for	CEO of Bureau Veritas; leadership in testing, inspection and certification services
Title	Chief executive officer
Term	June 2023–present
Predecessor	Didier Michaud-Daniel
Board member of	Rio Tinto (former non-executive director)
Spouse	Australian spouse
Children	2

👤Hinda Gharbi (born August 1970) is a Tunisian-Australian engineer and business executive who has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Bureau Veritas, a Paris-based global testing, inspection and certification group, since June 2023. She previously spent more than two decades at oilfield services company Schlumberger in technical, operational and executive roles before being recruited to Bureau Veritas in 2022 as chief operating officer and designated successor to long-serving CEO Didier Michaud-Daniel. Her appointment made her both the first non-French national and the first woman to lead Bureau Veritas, and one of a small number of female chief executives of companies in France’s CAC 40 index.

🧭Career overview. Over a 26-year career at Schlumberger, Gharbi progressed from offshore field engineer to executive vice president in charge of the group’s global Services & Equipment division, gaining experience across technology development, regional profit-and-loss leadership and human resources before leaving in 2022. She subsequently joined Bureau Veritas as chief operating officer, became deputy CEO in January 2023 and was promoted to chief executive officer in June 2023, at a time when the company was preparing its entry into the CAC 40 benchmark index.

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Early life and education

🎓Early life. Gharbi was born in August 1970 in Tunis, Tunisia, into a family of modest means and showed an early aptitude for science and mathematics. At the age of 22, after winning a competitive scholarship, she left Tunisia for France to pursue engineering studies, a move that she later said forced her to “grow up fast” in a new environment and laid the groundwork for a career in a male-dominated industry.

🌍Formative experiences. In Grenoble she earned an electrical engineering degree from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Électriciens de Grenoble and a master’s degree in signal processing from the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, building a rigorous technical foundation that would underpin her later management career. She has linked these studies, and the experience of adapting to life abroad at a young age, to the discipline, resilience and analytical mindset that subsequently characterised her leadership style.

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Career

Schlumberger

🛢Field engineer years. After graduating, Gharbi joined Schlumberger in 1996 as a field engineer, working on offshore rigs in Nigeria’s oilfields and performing geophysical measurements on platforms in the Gulf of Guinea. Often the only woman on the rigs, she has recalled long stints “three kilometres under the sea, without internet, having to fix things if they broke”, an experience she credits with building character and testing her leadership under pressure. Former Schlumberger chief executive Andrew Gould later commented that she carried out this field work “exceptionally well” and that he was struck by her determination.

📈Management ascent. After around eight years in technical roles, Gharbi moved into management positions within Schlumberger, taking on responsibilities in technology development and eventually leading the company’s Wireline division, which provides subsurface data services to oil and gas operators. In 2007 she was appointed to run the firm’s Asia–Pacific operations from a base in Bangkok, overseeing activities across much of Southeast Asia and becoming one of Schlumberger’s most senior female executives in the region in her mid-30s. In 2013 she moved to London as vice president of human resources, an unconventional shift from operations to HR that broadened her understanding of organisational culture and talent management, before returning to head Reservoir Characterization and Wireline services worldwide and joining the company’s executive committee in 2017. Headhunters later cited Schlumberger’s long-standing diversity policies in explaining how both Gharbi and Catherine MacGregor, future CEO of Engie, emerged from the company’s leadership ranks and described Gharbi’s multi-continent, multi-functional background as making her “a world-class CEO candidate”.

🔁Succession and pivot. By 2019 Gharbi was considered a serious contender to succeed Schlumberger’s outgoing chief executive when the group’s board launched its succession process, though the role ultimately went to fellow executive Olivier Le Peuch. She has said she accepted the decision without bitterness, helped with the transition and then chose to leave the company after more than 26 years, explaining that having reached every level below chief executive she preferred to seek a top role elsewhere. Before departing she was appointed executive vice president for Schlumberger’s Services & Equipment division, giving her responsibility for the company’s global oilfield services business and early digital transformation initiatives, and in 2020 she joined the board of Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto as an independent non-executive director. Her decision to resign from Schlumberger in early 2022 marked a turning point in her career, freeing her to pursue a chief executive position in another sector.

Bureau Veritas

🧪Arrival at Bureau Veritas. In May 2022 Bureau Veritas, a global leader in testing, inspection and certification services headquartered in Paris, announced that it had hired Gharbi as chief operating officer and designated heir to long-serving chief executive Didier Michaud-Daniel. The 200-year-old group, which employs around 80,000 people worldwide, had never previously been led by a non-French national or by a woman, making her appointment historically significant in French corporate life. After a year-long handover, she became deputy CEO in January 2023 and was formally appointed chief executive in June 2023, at a moment when Bureau Veritas was about to join the CAC 40 index, making her only the fourth woman ever to head a company in the benchmark. Colleagues quoted in the French business press describe her as determined but understated, noting that she tends not to dwell on her own promotion even when crossing such milestones.

🚀Leap 28 strategy. On taking office, Gharbi launched a multi-year strategic plan known as “Leap 28”, designed to accelerate Bureau Veritas’s growth and modernise its portfolio in the run-up to the group’s bicentennial in 2028. The programme emphasises expansion in higher-value activities such as renewable-energy certification, supply-chain sustainability audits and cybersecurity testing, supported by targeted acquisitions: in 2024 alone Bureau Veritas completed ten mainly bolt-on deals, representing about €180 million of investment, and signalled that it would consider larger targets with annual revenues of €100–500 million in subsequent years. At the same time, Gharbi has begun pruning non-core operations, refocusing the business on its most promising sectors and stepping up investment in low-carbon energy and digital services, while rolling out major training and upskilling initiatives for inspectors and engineers to prepare the workforce for fast-changing client demands. In interviews she has framed the plan as a way of elevating Bureau Veritas’s performance “to new heights” by blending its heritage of technical rigour with new technologies and more agile ways of working.

📊Market performance. Under Gharbi’s leadership Bureau Veritas returned to a strong growth trajectory, with management upgrading guidance in 2024 to forecast organic revenue growth of around 9–10%, compared with earlier expectations of high single-digit expansion. By late 2024 the group’s share price had risen above €30 to a record high, giving the company a market capitalisation of roughly €13.6 billion—around 30% more than at the beginning of the year—and helping secure its inclusion in the CAC 40 index in December 2024. Commentators noted that Bureau Veritas’s arrival in the index broadened its sectoral coverage to include testing and certification and increased the company’s visibility among global investors. Equity analysts credited the combination of Gharbi as chief executive and Laurent Mignon, of reference shareholder Wendel, as chairman with restoring a “growth dynamic” to the group by positioning it to benefit from structural trends such as the energy transition, tighter sustainability regulation and rising infrastructure investment worldwide.

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Compensation and wealth

💶CEO compensation. As chief executive of Bureau Veritas, Gharbi receives a remuneration package consisting of fixed salary, annual bonus and long-term incentives in the form of performance shares. Public disclosures for 2023 indicate that her total compensation was approximately €4 million, including a base salary of around €900,000, placing her close to the median compensation level for chief executives of companies of similar size in France. Surveys of CAC 40 remuneration compiled in 2024 ranked her in the middle of the index’s chief executives in terms of pay, with several long-tenured leaders earning two to three times more in a given year.

💰Accumulated wealth. Prior to joining Bureau Veritas, Gharbi accumulated significant wealth during her long service at Schlumberger, where executive compensation tends to be high by European standards. In 2021, her final full year at the company, she received total pay of about US$6.8 million as an executive vice president, combining salary, bonus and equity awards. Analyses based on United States securities filings have estimated her net worth at around US$18 million by late 2024, largely reflecting the value of Schlumberger shares she held or had realised, to which will later be added equity awards from Bureau Veritas as she builds a stake in her new company.

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Board and external roles

🏛️Board roles. While still at Schlumberger, Gharbi was invited in 2020 to join the board of directors of mining multinational Rio Tinto as an independent non-executive director, with the company highlighting the international operational and technology experience she brought from the energy sector. After being selected to lead Bureau Veritas she resigned from the Rio Tinto board in 2023 in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest, as Bureau Veritas audits industrial facilities worldwide, including in mining, and she preferred to remove any perception of divided loyalties.

🤝Networks and mentoring. In France, Gharbi has quickly integrated into elite business and policy circles, joining the Le Siècle club and participating in business organisations such as Medef and Afep, which act as interlocutors with government on economic matters. She is also active in mentoring schemes for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, notably through cross-industry programmes such as Equileap, where her trajectory from modest origins in Tunisia to the helm of a CAC 40 company is cited as an example that “excellence has no borders”.

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Personal life

🏡Family life. Gharbi is married to an Australian citizen and obtained Australian nationality through marriage; the couple have two children. During her years as a globe-trotting Schlumberger executive the family frequently based themselves in London, where the children—who also hold Australian citizenship—were largely raised, while Gharbi commuted internationally for work. When she accepted the Bureau Veritas role she moved to Paris to be closer to the company’s headquarters, while her family remained in London for schooling purposes.

😌Personality and image. Although she occupies a high-profile corporate position, commentators often describe Gharbi as discreet and down-to-earth, noting her soft-spoken manner and precise choice of words in meetings. She generally avoids the limelight: for example, when Bureau Veritas was due to receive a prestigious management award in late 2024 she declined to appear in person, reportedly arguing that it was “too soon” for such honours. Former colleagues nonetheless emphasise her ambition and work ethic, with one former superior observing that “these women are very ambitious”, while contrasting her methodical, analytical approach with more flamboyant leadership styles.

🧠Interests and role model. Gharbi keeps her personal hobbies largely out of the public eye, but has said that she enjoys activities that allow her to keep learning and has described a long-standing fascination with science and technology, remarking that her “love for science and technology has been one of the keys” to her success. Colleagues note that even as chief executive she remains closely involved in technical discussions, whether on cybersecurity solutions or renewable-energy projects, which helps her connect with the engineers and specialists within Bureau Veritas. Through mentoring programmes such as Equileap she has become a role model for younger professionals, particularly women and people from immigrant backgrounds, who see in her progression from modest origins in Tunisia to a CAC 40 chief executive evidence that such paths are possible; Gharbi herself, however, continues to describe her public personality as reserved.

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Leadership style

🧩Leadership philosophy. Commentators and interviewers often characterise Gharbi’s leadership style as balanced and pragmatic, combining a data-driven mindset rooted in her engineering training with a strong focus on people and organisational culture. She has emphasised the importance of learning, listening, clarity of purpose and setting clear expectations in leading teams, and encourages open dialogue and constructive challenge within her management committees.

🎯People development. Having herself benefitted from being rotated through diverse roles at Schlumberger, Gharbi advocates taking calculated risks on promising individuals to foster growth and innovation, and is known for giving high-potential managers opportunities across functions and geographies. At Bureau Veritas she has refreshed the executive committee and strengthened digital capabilities by bringing in new leaders, while drawing on her human-resources experience to emphasise inclusion, morale and talent development alongside financial performance.

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Controversies and challenges

⚔️Merger episode. Gharbi’s career has so far been largely free of personal scandal, but her tenure at Bureau Veritas has confronted her with significant strategic challenges, notably when news leaked in January 2025 that the company’s shareholders were exploring a possible merger with Swiss rival SGS. The prospect of combining the two inspection groups, first reported by financial media, provoked concern in France that a long-standing national champion might be absorbed by a foreign competitor, while negotiations quietly explored issues of valuation, governance and control. Less than two weeks later the parties announced that talks had ended without agreement, and around the same time Wendel, Bureau Veritas’s reference shareholder, sold a 6.7% stake for about €750 million in cash, reducing its holding to roughly 26.5% of the capital and about 41% of the voting rights. Following the collapse of the discussions, Gharbi moved quickly to reassure employees and investors and to reaffirm that the “Leap 28” plan remained the roadmap for an independent Bureau Veritas.

🌐Legitimacy in France. As an outsider to both Bureau Veritas and the traditional French grandes écoles pipeline—coming instead from Tunisia, Australian naturalisation and a career largely abroad—Gharbi initially faced questions about her legitimacy to lead a venerable French institution. She has turned this diversity into an asset, stressing her international background as well suited to a company that now earns around 85% of its revenues outside France and building relationships in domestic business forums such as the Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence and employers’ federations. Her early delivery of growth, profitability and index inclusion has helped win over sceptics and establish her as a prominent figure in France’s business community.

♻️ESG posture. On environmental, social and governance questions, Gharbi has generally adopted a measured stance, avoiding highly politicised debates while aligning Bureau Veritas’s activities with macro-trends such as decarbonisation, safety and ethical supply chains through services in renewable-energy certification and sustainability auditing. She promotes diversity and inclusion internally, drawing on her own experience of benefiting from Schlumberger’s diversity policies and supporting mentoring schemes for women and minorities, and is regarded as maintaining a low public political profile while engaging with policymakers through business federations. Some environmental observers initially questioned the appointment of a former oilfield-services executive to head a company that certifies sustainability and safety, but commentators note that she has responded by steering the portfolio toward greener activities and by voluntarily stepping down from her Rio Tinto directorship to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

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