He is a new face at the head of the FEBEA, the main trade federation representing the companies manufacturing and marketing cosmetic products in France: on July 1, 2014, Patrice O’Quin will succeed Alain Grangé-Cabane, who had been managing the organisation for 16 years.

Alain Grangé-Cabane (left) et Patrice O’Quin (right)

“I’m convinced trade organizations play a major role in today’s complex societies. They have a double mission: expressing companies’ needs to politicians and government officials, and explaining the constraints of public services to companies. Besides, a Federation has a double duty towards its members: on the one hand, it represents them collectively before public authorities or the various “stakeholders” (the scientific community, NGOs, the media…), and on the other hand it provides its members with personalized services (regulations, social issues, exports…) for them to develop their activity in the best conditions,” explains the future President.

A former student at the prestigious French college ENA, which trains future top civil servants, Patrice O’Quin started his professional life in the public administration before joining the business world at Danone, where he was the Director of External Relations and Government Affairs for a little over ten years.

“I saw the cosmetics industry profoundly transform itself. First, it got globalized, and then it found a way to adapt to new society requirements: the environment, safety, and ethics. Rules and standards gradually became much stricter, but our manufacturers managed to anticipate regulations by implementing ‘good practices’. We were thus able to renew and revive our contract of confidence with our customers. As I’m convinced Patrick will know how to make our Federation reach new heights, I can only wish him to be as happy as I was as the President of the FEBEA,” declared Alain Grangé-Cabane, who was elected Honorary President, and who will sit as such on the Federation’s Board of Directors.

Portrait: Patrick O’Quin

Patrice O’Quin, new president of the FEBEA

Patrick O’Quin is now 59 and has a double experience in public life and the business world.

He studied at the prestigious French college ENA, and after getting a diploma in Political Science, he was first appointed senior civil servant at the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Then he worked as a Technical Advisor at the Office of the Minister of European Affairs from 1984 to 1986. For the following nine years, Patrick O’Quin held various international positions at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs or Cooperation, in particular as the Advisor of the Chad Republic’s Minister of Finance (in N’Djamena).

In 1995, Patrick O’Quin decided to stop working for the public administration and join the business world, first as the Director of Environmental Relations at Brasseries Kronenbourg. In 1998, he was called to work at the Danone group headquarters, first as the Director of Corporate External Relations, then as the Director of Government and Multilateral Affairs, as from 2010.

He has also had to deal with Danone’s relations with various non-business partners of the group as part of his recent duties (public institutions, regulatory authorities, scientific bodies, professional federations, non-governmental organisations, consumer movements).