About

Operating in 70 countries, French utility company ENGIE earned over €66.6bn in 2016 from its three core business, namely electricity, natural gas and energy services. Currently general counsel for the MESCAT region, Catherine Chouteau has had an association of over 20 years with the company and its previous incarnations. Her journey started in 1994 in Paris at Suez Environment, ENGIE’s water treatment and waste management subsidiary. She spent seven years there as legal counsel before working in the Paris office of law firm Baker McKenzie as a senior associate working on project finance and banking matters for almost two years. Staying in Paris, Chouteau joined Gaz de France (now ENGIE) in 2003, where she was senior legal counsel for three years before being promoted to the head of the legal department for the company’s international division. When Gaz de France merged with Suez in 2008, Chouteau was made general counsel for GDF Suez’s European energy business and remained in the position for over three years until 2011. Chouteau held one more position for the company in Paris; she was deputy general counsel for its energy services business between 2011 and 2013. 2014 was an important year in Chouteau’s career as she made the move to Dubai to take the position of general counsel for GDF Suez’s MESCAT region. Chouteau’s appointment came as no surprise given she had shone in various senior positions within the company and accumulated a wealth of knowledge and understanding of its businesses during her long association with it.