A graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie also holds a degree in Commercial Law from Paris I University.

She began her professional career in 1981 at Xerox France as Financial Controller. In 1984, she joined Hoechst pharmaceutical group, where she successively held several positions in the financial fi eld at Roussel Uclaf SA before being appointed in 1994 as Chief Financial Officer of Albert Roussel Pharma GmbH and a member of the Executive Board. In 1996, she joined Volkswagen France before moving to Lafarge Group in 1997 as Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge Speciality Products (LMS).

In 2000, she was appointed Senior Vice President Mergers & Acquisitions at the Group’s Cement Division. In that position, Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie led the financial strategy for the takeover of Blue Circle. In 2004, she became Chief Executive Officer for Germany and the Czech Republic.

In 2007, she was appointed Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Tarmac France and Belgium, before becoming the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Frans Bonhomme in 2009.

Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie was a member of the boards of directors of Eramet (from 2012 to 2016), Safran (from 2011 to 2015), FLSMIDTH (from 2012 to 2019), Wienerberger (from 2015 to 2020) and Groupama (from 2011 to 2022). Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie is currently a member of the boards of Fnac-Darty, Vinci and Bluestar Adisseo. She is also an investor of Calyos, a Belgian technology company.

She is a Knight of the French Legion of Honor.