Catherine Orphelin

After studying at Sciences Po and earning a diploma in communications, Catherine Orphelin spent more than 10 years in politics (working for Cercles Universitaires de France, Michel Bongrand SA Conseils, the European Union in Brussels and project officer for Philippe Seguin). She founded Cocarde in 1988 where she designed influential communications strategies, supported company executives and planned high-profile events. Ms. Orphelin founded Opus Production, a film and documentary production company, and served as managing director from 2002 to 2007. She teaches at Efap and Faculté Libre des Sciences de la Communication (Iserp). She is an Expert with APM, the Association Management Progress. In 2010, Hervé Novelli, the French secretary of state for Business, Arts and Crafts, Small and Medium Enterprises, Tourism, Services and Consumption appointed her to a position supporting self-employed workers. She was a director at the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN) from 2015 to 2019 and is now a board member of the IHEDN foundation. She has been a director for Apave (2014–2019) and Halys (since 2018). She is also a board member for Natureo Finance (since 2019) and Yotta Capital (since 2019). She was an IHEDN auditor from 2006 to 2007 and president of the IHEDN’s national auditors’ association (2015–2018). She is currently the IHEDN union’s vice president. She was an auditor of Cycle des Hautes Études pour le Développement Économique (CHEDE) from 2010 to 2011 and is currently associate treasurer of the association of CHEDE auditors. A dedicated volunteer, she supports communications efforts about the restoration of the Chartres cathedral and Notre Dame de Paris cathedral (at the request of the archbishop after the fire in 2019), as well as a number of foundation’s she has either created or supports. MS. Orphelin published Mémoires et rêves d'un humaniste: Paul-Emile Victor and Passion du Christ (with François Marxer). She is a Knight of the Legion of Honor.