France Telecom's deputy CEO in charge of operations in France, Louis-Pierre Wenes, has been replaced by Stephane Richard. Wenes, who has been supervising the group's Next reorganisation plan since September 2005, became head of French operations in 2006 and was named group deputy CEO last February. He had been blamed by unions for the rise in employee stress that led to a series of suicides. Richard, the former chief of staff of finance minister Christine Lagarde, joined France Telecom on 1 September. He had been tipped to be named head of the group's international operations from January 2010, before succeeding group CEO Didier Lombard at the end of his term in 2011.
