After graduating from the School of Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), François-Henri Pinault joined the Pinault Group in 1987, and exercised a number of responsibilities in major subsidiaries. In December 1990, he became President of Pinault Distribution and in 1993 was appointed President of CFAO and Member of the PPR Board. Four years later, he became CEO of Fnac, a post he occupied until February 2000, when he was promoted to Deputy General Director of PPR, with responsibility for the development of the Group’s Internet businesses. In 2003, he took over the presidency of the Artémis Group. In 2005, he was appointed President of the Board and then CEO of PPR.

After working in the communication field, as part of RSCG Agency, Claude Chirac became the Communications Manager for Jacques Chirac’s Presidential campaign in 1995, and then Communication and Press Opinion adviser to the Presidency of the French Republic from 1995 to 2007. She joined PPR in 2008 as Group Senior Vice President Communications.

After graduating from Sup de Co Rennes, Laurent Claquin obtained an MBA at the University of Exeter and a DESS in Cultural Management at the Institut des Etudes Européennes de Paris VIII. In 1997, he was appointed Manager of Communications and International Relations at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, before becoming Deputy Director of Communication at Centre Pompidou in 1999. He was appointed Deputy Head of the private office of the Minister of Culture and Communication in 2002, and in 2004, joined Artémis Group as an adviser to François-Henri Pinault. In 2005, he was appointed Director of Communication, PPR, and in 2007, Group Senior VP Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility.

Frida Giannini studied design at Rome's Fashion Academy. In 1997, she joined Fendi as a ready-to-wear designer before being named designer for Fendi leathergoods. Gucci recruited her as Handbag Design Director in September 2002. In 2004 and 2005, she progressively was appointed Creative Director of Accessories, Fragrances and Women's ready-to-wear. In January 2006, she took over Menswear, thus becoming the sole Creative Director of the label. Frida Giannini is an authentic supporter of UNICEF. She organises special fundraising events in collaboration with worldwide celebrities and creates exclusive annual collections to support UNICEF’s sub-Saharan Africa programs since 2005.

After graduating from École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC), Isabelle Guichot joined Cartier in 1986. After nineteen years in the Swiss luxury group Richemont, she joined Gucci in January 2005 as Director of Business Development. She became President and Chief Executive Officer of Sergio Rossi in March 2005. In May 2007, she was appointed CEO of Balenciaga.

Valérie Hermann graduated from the French business school Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) and began her career at the Comité Colbert in 1985, where she created the ‘Young Creative Designers Awards’. From 1989 to 1996, she held various management positions including Investments Director of the Altus group and President of Fath Couture and Fragrances. She then joined the LVMH Group heading up the women’s ready-to-wear collection at Christian Dior Couture and also acquired the position of President of the group’s John Galliano brand. Early in 2005, she was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Yves Saint Laurent.

Born in London, Stella McCartney graduated from Central St Martins in 1995. In 1997, she was appointed the Creative Director of Chloe in Paris. In 2001, Stella McCartney launched her own fashion house under her name in a joint venture with Gucci Group. Stella McCartney operates 12 stores and her collections are distributed in over 50 countries. They include women’s ready-to-wear, accessories, eyewear, fragrance CARE, the first luxury organic skincare line. In addition to the main line collection, a long-term partnership with Adidas was introduced in September 2004. The sports performance collection “Adidas by Stella McCartney,” has since successfully grown to include several sports categories. A lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs.

Mimma Viglezio holds a degree in literature from the University of Geneva. She started her career in the auctions world before moving to public relations. She worked for four years in Hill & Knowlton agency in Italy, she spent ten years at Bulgari and then became Worldwide Communications Director at Louis Vuitton in Paris. Mimma Viglezio has been Gucci Group Executive Vice President Global Communications since June 2005. Based in London, she coordinates all the different communications activities of the nine Gucci Group brands.
She speaks five languages and feels at home in every continent, with a strong preference for India, where she has travelled yearly for the past ten years. She is Vice President of PRASAD Italia Onlus, a non for profit organisation based in India.

Jamel Debbouze is a French humorist, actor and producer of Moroccan origin. Following his first appearances on stage, he presents -starting 1995- a radio show, Le Cinéma de Jamel. Three years later the TV version is broadcasted. He performs in one man shows and has played since 1998 in more than fifteen movies including Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet), Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (Alain Chabat), Angel-A (Luc Besson) and She hate me (Spike Lee). In 2007 he receives the Cannes Film Festival’s best actor award for Indigènes directed by Rachid Bouchareb. In April 2008, Jamel Debbouze inaugurates its theater, the Comedy Club, whose aim is to enable young talents to make names as comics.

Waris Dirie was born in the Somali desert into a nomad family. She underwent genital mutilation at the age of five and was thirteen when she fled from a forced marriage. After an adventurous escape, she managed to reach London. The British photographer Terence Donovan discovered her and she became one of the first ‘supermodels’. In 1988, Waris Dirie decided to open to the media about the tradition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and her own fate. She was appointed UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of FGM in 1997 and created her own Foundation in 2002, based in Austria. Waris Dirie published four best-sellers between 1997 and 2007. The recipient of numerous prizes and awards, she has become a symbol of hope and justice to millions of women.

Actress, director and producer Salma Hayek was born and grew up in Mexico, but has worked in the United States since the 1990s. Her interpretation of the role of Frida Kahlo in the work by Julie Taymor, dealing with the story of the famous Mexican artist, lead to an Oscar Nomination for the Best Actress in 2003. Since 2002 she has been working with the V-day Association. After acting in Monologues du Vagin by Eve Ensler, she joined the Board of Directors. Salma Hayek has since 2004 been the spokesperson for the Avon brand of cosmetics. She is particularly involved in the Avon Foundation's Speak Out Against Domestic Violence programme.

Taslima Nasreen is a physician, and the author of thirty-two books of poetry, essays, novels, short stories and memoirs.
Dr. Nasreen has been granted numerous awards for her writing for women's rights, including Ananda literary award from India,  Kurt Tucholsky Prize from Swedish PEN, the Human Rights Award from the Government of France, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament, edit de Nantes Prize from the city of Nantes, France, Feminist of the year ( 1994) from Feminist Majority Foundation, USA, UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence, Simone de Beauvoir Prize from France, and the Feminist Press award from USA.
The recipient of two honorary doctoral degrees from Ghent University and American University of Paris, she has spoken in many different countries and in different universities such as Oxford, Edinburgh, Harvard, Yale, and the Sorbonne.
Deported first from her native country Bangladesh (1994), and then from India (2008) because of her views on women's rights, secular humanism, and freedom of expression, she arrived in Europe and continued her work for consciousness raising.

After a diploma from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and a Masters in Economics at Université Paris II Assas, Nazanine Ravaï joined the Figaro staff as a journalist in 1987 before being appointed to major reporting duties in 1997. In 2000, she went to Financière Pinault as a special adviser to the President. Nazanine Ravaï has written two books: Bernard Arnault or the taste for Luxury with Nadège Forestier published by Plon in 1991, and The Republic of Vanities published by Grasset in 1997.