About

After working as a private practice lawyer in the late 1990s Philippe Prouvost moved in-house to join AXA, the French multinational insurance firm, in 1999. As corporate legal counsel there, Prouvost worked on matters relating to finance and M&A until 2002 when he left to join Pernod Ricard as senior legal counsel. Prouvost quickly rose through the ranks at the world leading wines and spirits company, being appointed deputy senior executive director of corporate affairs shortly after joining. He has built two legal departments from a team of just two to over 150, lawyers and paralegals combined. A team of 10 lawyers directly report into him and he utilises a further 100 internal lawyers to work on specific projects or transactions. Prouvost places lawyers in the various divisions in Pernod Ricard’s affiliates to build up their expertise to the level of a general counsel. In 2012, Prouvost was appointed as secretary to the board of directors and has a direct working relationship with the CEO and all top executives in the company. During his time in the role he has worked on some of the most important acquisitions of the company such as the purchase of Allied Domecq for over $6bn and the vodka company Absolut from the Swedish government in 2007. Prouvost has also worked on the implementation of Seagram Spirits & Wine after the company contributed $3.15bn to its acquisition in 2001.