People Moves: Vanessa Clemendot, Sanofi

Vanessa Clemendot has been appointed as Sanofi’s new Global Head of Supply Chain.

She joins the pharmaceutical and healthcare giant having spent an astonishing 25 years at L'Oréal.

Embracing complexity

Taking to LinkedIn to share her news, Vanessa said the move felt like "coming full circle" after two decades in cosmetics and beauty.

She added: "While I’ve spent my career ensuring products reach people when and where they need them, there’s something profound about knowing that work now directly impacts lives – ensuring vaccines reach communities, medicines get to patients and breakthroughs make it from labs to those who need them most.

“What excites me about Sanofi? The complexity and purpose. Global manufacturing networks, intricate regulatory requirements, life-critical timelines – these aren’t just operational challenges; they’re opportunities to build something extraordinary. 

“I’m energised to dive in and work alongside people who understand that every decision, every optimisation and every innovation in our supply chain has a human face behind it. Here’s to transforming science into hope, one supply chain decision at a time.”

A people-first leader

Vanessa joined L'Oréal back in 2000. In an interview with Supply Chain Digital last year, she described the supply chain of today as “a whole new world compared to when I first stepped onto the scene”.

Over the years, Vanessa progressed through the ranks to assume a host of prominent supply chain leadership roles, working across the group’s four divisions in France, Canada and the US. 

Most recently, she served as Chief Supply Chain Officer for North America, which involved looking after US$11bn in annual revenue and taking responsibility for the end-to-end management of the supply chain across all distribution channels.

Vanessa is a people-first leader with a strong track record in infrastructure development projects, organisational design, end-to-end planning and network design.