A new adventure for Paul Kofonet (*)
1. CONTEXT
The story begins in Basel, Switzerland in 2015.
As a manufacturer of innovative, high-quality colour chemicals, the company employs 3,000 people throughout 25 production sites in 35 countries. Created as a CLARIANT spinoff in 2014, they had just one year to get their own information system up and running.
Although the application elements were migrated quickly, the infrastructure part had significant flaws and would be far from autonomous by the end of the one-year period. This risked undermining future operational plans. The company needed to react quickly to rectify the situation on time. So they dismissed their CIO and urgently called upon WAYDEN to provide an experienced interim replacement who could get them autonomous fast.
2. APPROACH
The corporate HR Director, absorbed by this complex integration period, provided WAYDEN with very little information regarding the project’s challenges. Fortunately, Benoit Durand-Tisnes was able to draw on his experience as a former manager of a high-tech consulting group to quickly gauge the expectations and find the ideal manager. He immediately thought of Paul Kofonet. A senior CIO specialised in crisis management, digital transformation and process optimisation, Paul is one of France’s top experts in operational restructuring of Information Systems – and a great asset to the WAYDEN Selection network.
The interim manager’s background
A graduate of ESME and HEC Executives, Paul Kofonet boasts an impressive career path. He changed companies every two years in order to move up in rank, from Sales Director at ECONOCOM MAINTENANCE to General Manager at TELMA RETARDER USA, then Group Deputy CIO at LABINAL. In 2000, he took over the reins of AUTOMOTIVE MARKETPLACE, known as the French pioneer in the online distribution of auto parts.
Paul then embarked on a long career as an interim manager where he successfully completed several major assignments in multi-cultural and multi-site environments. We particularly appreciate his time at INOPLAST during the acquisition by PLASTIC OMNIUM, and EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY where he led the company’s digital transformation.
3. MISSION
Through close collaboration with the client’s CFO, Paul Kofonet leveraged his operational expertise on four levels:
- Management of the IT Department
- Deployment of an international infrastructure (35 global sites, IT hub based in Barcelona)
- Change management with multicultural teams
- Participation in the recruitment of the future Chief Information Officer and transfer of authority
For its part, WAYDEN ensured the client close follow-up to compensate for the communication difficulties caused by the interim manager’s constant travel (headquartered in Switzerland, IT hub in Spain, 35 global entities).
4. RESULTS
After successfully stabilising this IT crisis in under six months, the client asked WAYDEN to take part in selecting and recruiting the company’s next CIO.