Stéphane Richard appointed OM president, ex-Orange chief with Marseille ties | OneFootball

Stéphane Richard was appointed OM president on Friday, bringing a heavyweight corporate profile after more than a decade leading Orange. Le Progres reports that he was also chosen for his contact book and links to football.

Aged 64, Richard follows Pablo Longoria with a more traditional business-leader profile. A graduate of HEC and a former ENA student, he worked at the Inspection des Finances, advised Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and held roles at Compagnie générale des eaux and Veolia.

He later served as chief of staff to Jean-Louis Borloo and Christine Lagarde at the Economy Ministry, then ran Orange from 2011 to 2022, as the group was still reeling from the 2008-2009 wave of employee suicides. He left after the Bernard Tapie arbitration affair, having been acquitted in 2019, then handed a one-year suspended sentence and a 50,000 euro fine on appeal. In 2025, after a third trial, the offence was downgraded to negligence and he received a six-month suspended sentence and a 15,000 euro fine.

Under his watch, Orange signed the Stade Vélodrome naming deal in 2016, which expires this year, and co-broadcast Ligue 1 from 2008 to 2018, experience that made him familiar with TV rights. Since 2022 he has sat on the supervisory board of Marseille’s major port and is regarded as knowing Rodolphe Saadé, the CMA CGM chief, whose firm has sponsored OM since 2023.

Born in Bordeaux on 24 August 1961, he has five children and long-standing ties to Marseille, where he studied and keeps his only home. On 31 March he joined MTN’s board, a rival to Orange in Africa. A Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, decorated by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, he arrives as OM seek potential investors amid financial strain.

Source: Le Progres