You joined La Poste Group as Global Healthcare Officer and Deputy Managing Director of La Poste Santé et Autonomie after a distinguished career in the healthcare industry. What is your role within the Group today?
Within this structure, which draws on the complementary human and digital healthcare expertise of La Poste Group, led by Dominique Pon, my role is to implement the healthcare strategy, manage a portfolio of companies, and develop the international healthcare business as Global Healthcare Officer. This entity reflects the desire to provide a comprehensive, sustainable and responsible response to the growing needs of citizens and healthcare stakeholders, in a context of demographic ageing and increased pressure on the healthcare system, based on trust, proximity and the public interest, which are at the heart of La Poste Group’s DNA.
You have led major transformations in complex environments, particularly during the pandemic. What lessons have you learned from these experiences of leadership in times of crisis?
In times of crisis and uncertainty, the role and ethics of leaders are even more important. It is they who, together with their teams, will set the course, maintain a safe psychological environment that allows everyone to give their best, and steer the ship by capitalising on those who are on the front lines in the field to adjust the trajectory. This requires listening to one’s teams, being consistent in one’s actions and decisive in one’s positions. However, it must be accepted that if the context changes, decisions must evolve so that the collective can continue to progress in the direction that has been set. Here, even more than elsewhere, ego games can be very costly for the company, its employees, the healthcare ecosystem and, therefore, patients.
Through Women for CEO, you are working to promote more inclusive and efficient leadership. What is the mission of this initiative and how do you intend to contribute to achieving gender parity at the highest levels of organisations?
Women for CEO is a gender-balanced movement by design, made up of male and female executives who have decided to do everything in their power to achieve gender parity at the highest levels of our organisations by 2035. This movement was born out of an observation: despite all the initiatives that exist, no more than 10% of CEOs worldwide are women. This figure remains unchanged, even in the latest CEO appointments: here too, less than 10% are women. We have established a roadmap where the first step is to work on ourselves in single-sex groups, women on one side (step 1) and men on the other (step 2), the idea being that by progressing individually, we will be able to come together in step 3 to work together to change our companies. You don’t join WFCEO alone: you join in gender-balanced pairs, because transformation happens together. Our community is based on mutual support, mutual commitment and a shared desire to change the rules of the game. Women for CEO is not a fixed programme. It is a self-sustaining, demanding and inspiring ecosystem, open to all those who want to work towards fairer, more inclusive and resolutely forward-looking governance.
That ultimately resonates with JFD. What motivated you to join us, and what does JFD represent for you?
I greatly admire the tireless work done by the JFD teams, led by Delphine Remy-Boutang, over the past 14 years to advance our position in technological transformation. Women for CEO is connected to the entire ecosystem working towards gender parity in business, and it was obvious to me that I should join and take a chance within JFD.
While Europe has a wealth of talent at its disposal, it is also depriving itself of a major part of its competitiveness by under-exploiting 50% of its resources. In global competition, this is an innovation deficit that urgently needs to be addressed. What are your thoughts on the “United by Tech” campaign by JFD?
“United by Tech” expresses a belief that I deeply share: unity around technology is a prerequisite for our sovereignty and collective progress. In healthcare, as in all major societal challenges, technology only makes sense if it is designed for everyone. At Women for CEO, we are working to create the conditions for real equality in decision-making bodies, because diversity of profiles and backgrounds is the very engine of innovation.
Bringing women leaders to the forefront of healthtech and AI means ensuring that Europe’s digital transformation is based on values of fairness, autonomy and ethics. “United by Tech” reminds us that Europe’s technological sovereignty will depend on the diversity of its talent and the ability of its players to act together — for technology that serves the common good.
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Florence Dupré is Global Healthcare Officer, Deputy Managing Director of La Poste Santé & Autonomie and founder of Women for CEO, an initiative dedicated to promoting more inclusive and efficient leadership. A graduate of ESSEC and École Normale Supérieure Ulm, she has solid international management experience in the healthcare industries.
Before joining La Poste Groupe in 2023, she chaired Medtronic France, after leading the Restorative Therapies Group (RTG) during the pandemic. She previously held several senior positions at Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, BioAlliance Pharma/Onxeo, Viforpharma and AbbVie, where she contributed to global strategic transformation projects.
Recognised for her ability to identify and deploy major innovations, she works to transform healthcare models to create sustainable and shared value. An expert in transformation, strategic management and talent development, Florence Dupré cultivates long-term partnerships with institutions, manufacturers, start-ups and healthcare professionals in the service of healthcare innovation.
