PARIS (Reuters) – Orange’s internal selection committee has selected three candidates to succeed the resigned CEO of French telecommunications giant Stéphane Richard, we learned on Thursday from two sources familiar with the matter.

The committee, made up of three Orange directors, has shortlisted Ramon Fernandez, Orange’s current CFO, Christel Heidmann, Orange’s director and Schneider’s boss in Europe, and Frank Boulben, a former Orange director of States-United currently at Verizon. Sources have confirmed the information received from Liberation newspaper.

Stephen Richard, whose mandate was due to expire the following May, resigned from Orange’s management in November, after appealing to a year in prison and fined 50,000 euros in the arbitration case between Bernard Tappy and Credit Lyonnais. After the. Eleven years at the head of the company.

The final word on designating the person who will be his successor after January 31 comes to the state, which controls key appointments in the Regime of Orange, thanks to its controlling stake of 23%.

The Elysee can therefore eventually ignore the three candidates selected by the internal committee and enforce their choice. But it looks like time is running out for Orange to find both a new chairman and a new CEO by January 31st.

(Matthew Roseman, French version Tangi Saloun)