Our executive committee and its members

Cédric Cogniez, 53, a graduate of IHEDREA with a master’s degree in law, has spent his career in the agricultural and cooperative sector: first as a consultant with CERFRANCE, then for eight years as CEO of ADVITAM, a grain cooperative group based in the North of France, before recently joining TSE, a leader in the agriphotovoltaics industry.

In june 2024, he was appointed Deputy Managing Director for Agricultural Businesses.

Frédéric Kasak began his career in 1989 as an Internal Auditor at Rhône-Poulenc. He successively became Corporate Finance Manager, Financial Affairs Director for the Netherlands in 1994, Europe Management Control Director, and finally Director of Operations for the Nordic and Benelux regions in 1997.

In 2000, he became Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Europe at Solectron, and the following year held the same position at IVECO France and the IRIBUS Group until 2008. He then joined the Eurapharma Group (PPR / CFAO) as CFO, before joining the Aelia Group (Lagardère) in 2012. He was CFO of Alliance Healthcare Group France (Walgreens Boots Alliance Group) from 2014 to 2019, and then CFO of the Pichet Group from 2019 to 2020.

In December 2021, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the VIVESCIA Group.

In 2024, he became Chief Financial Officer of the VIVESCIA Group and Manager of VIVESCIA Industries.

EDUCATION: Frédéric Kasak is a graduate of ESCP.

Pierre Garcia started his career in Pamplona, Spain, in 1994 as sales manager at Harinas Guria. In 1996, he became phosphate market manager at Timab Industries, Rouillier Group, also in Spain. In 1999, he returned to France, joining Grands Moulins de Paris as Peyrehorade site manager and head of milling operations in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes and Hautes-Pyrénées departments.

In 2006, he became director of the Aquitaine region, heading up milling operations for the whole of South-West France. In 2013, he was appointed managing director of Grands Moulins de Paris.

Pierre is an engineer by training, and graduated from ESA Purpan in Toulouse in 1991. He also gained a Master’s degree in trade and marketing, specialising in B2B marketing, from CNAM in 2017.

Robert O’Boyle began his career in 1999, as an auditor at Arthur Andersen in Dublin. In 2002, he was appointed senior manager for audit and advisory financial services at KPMG Ireland. In 2006, he arrived in Paris, France, joining Coup de Pates as head of finance.

In 2008, he returned to Ireland briefly as associate director of transaction services at KPMG Ireland. The following year, he joined Arytza Group briefly as financial controller, and became Group head of finance in 2011. In 2013, he was appointed commercial director for Europe, and in 2016, he became managing director of the APMEA zone, with a seat on the group executive committee.

In August 2020, he joined VIVESCIA Group as managing director of Délifrance.

Robert O’Boyle holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Commerce and Finance from University College Dublin.

Olivier Hautin has spent the majority of his career with Imerys Group, the world leader in mineral-based specialities for industry, where he held various roles as managing director on international markets, and recently oversaw the corporate development functions.

He joined VIVESCIA Group as managing director of Malteurop in April 2022 and is part of VIVESCIA Group’s executive committee.

Olivier is a graduate of ESCP Business School.

Hugo Naudet started his career in 2006 as a sales representative at Céralis, where he was promoted to the role of commercial director in 2009.

In 2019, he joined VIVESCIA Group as commercial director of KALIZEA. He was appointed managing director in February 2022.

He is a qualified agricultural engineer with a degree from ENSA in Rennes. He also holds an Executive Master’s degree in Strategy and Management of International Business awarded by ESSEC Business School, Paris, in 2011.

Armand Barré began his career in Tunisia in 1997 with a first cooperation mission under contract with Sofiprotéol, now Avril Group. In 1999, he joined Champagne Céréales as marketing manager, before taking on a variety of management responsibilities in the field.

In 2011 he was appointed managing director of Champ’Énergie. In 2015, he was appointed regional director of the VIVESCIA cooperative, and three years later he became commercial director of Nealia. In 2019, he was promoted to the role of managing director of Nealia.

Armand Barré graduated as an agricultural engineer from ESITPA, Rouen. He also obtained an Executive MBA from NEOMA Business School in 2018.

Philippe Aubry began his career at the Institut français du pétrole (the French Petroleum Institute) before joining ARD in 1989.
Since then, he has held several different positions at ARD, including process engineer, technical director, and deputy managing director.

He was appointed managing director of ARD at the beginning of 2023. 
Philippe Aubry graduated from UTC Compiègne with a degree in biological engineering with an option in bioindustry.

Valérie Frapier began her career in 2000 at Publicis Consultants, the corporate subsidiary of Publicis Group. After starting out as a non-specialist consultant, in 2005 she was seconded to Nestlé France’s communication and public affairs department as a project manager. In 2008, she became director of Publicis Consultants.

In 2010, she left Publicis Group to become director of corporate communications at Charal. In 2014, she headed back into consultancy as director and senior consultant at Meanings, a corporate communications agency, and in 2016 she was appointed managing director.

In January 2018, she joined VIVESCIA Group as communications director. She was promoted in September 2020, becoming group director of communications, CSR and external relations.

Valérie Frapier holds a Master’s degree in CSR management from IAE Gustave Eiffel (Paris) and a Master’s degree in corporate and institutional communication from CELSA (Paris Sorbonne IV).

Jean-Christophe Trotabas has spent most of his career in industry with major international groups (Holcim/Lafarge, Alstom, Exide Technologies, Valeo, Imerys, etc.) in business and corporate HR roles.

In March 2023, he joined VIVESCIA Group as Group Human Resources Director.

Jean-Christophe Trotabas is a graduate of ISG (Institut Supérieur de Gestion) with a master’s degree in political and social communication (Université Paris 1)