Leadership

Philippe Léonetti, CEO of Viaccess-Orca (VO), has more than 25 years of experience in the IT and telecom industries. Prior to joining VO, Philippe worked within Orange in multiple leadership roles. Philippe has strong experience in the field of security, having been in charge of IT and service platform security for France Telecom and then for the Orange Group. He also has expertise in the field of television, notably having worked on the development of customer equipment such as Livebox and satellite, DTT, and IP decoders. While at Orange, Philippe led the launch of OTT services (Netflix and YouTube), ensuring seamless integration into the Orange ecosystem of products deployed across France, Poland, Spain, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Jordan, and other countries.

Most recently, Philippe led the Strategic Steering of Global Innovation at Orange where he guided the company to formulate a global vision for marketing and technological strategy on major innovations such as network on demand, 5G, Iot, big data, e-SIM, and more.

Arnaud Alvarez is the Executive Vice President of Global Sales at Viaccess-Orca. Arnaud has a strong experience of International Sales and a long history of working in the Digital Pay-TV industry, the Telecommunications and OTT sectors, managing growing revenues and market share increase in all those business regions. Arnaud is leading VO’s external Sales team to extend our worldwide customer base, with three main Sales offices in Paris, Singapore, and Miami.

Arnaud developed his business leadership in many leading companies such as Technicolor, Nagravision, and Philips/Pace (CommScope), where he managed Sales operations on a global basis. With 25 years of experience in the industry, he also brings strong relationships with many of VO’s key partners to the table.

Arnaud holds a postgraduate degree in Management of Telecommunications, Telematics and Television from Paris Dauphine University.

Alain Nochimowski is the Chief Technology Officer at Viaccess-Orca. Alain is responsible for leading VO’s innovative initiatives and on a broader scope, fostering an innovative mindset across the company. Prior to this position, Alain led business development activities, first at Orca Interactive, and following the merger with Viaccess, at the new entity Viaccess-Orca.

Alain was responsible for leading VO’s entry strategy into new markets and ventures, and for creating a supportive industrial ecosystem for VO’s new products and technologies.  Before joining Orca Interactive in 2009, Alain held various business development and technical strategy positions successively at Orange, Viaccess, and SanDisk, in New York, Paris, and Tel Aviv.

Throughout his career, Alain initiated and successfully lead multiple innovation projects that notably resulted in dozens of issued patents and strategic sales to large content service providers. Alain graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris.

Nicolas Delahaye is the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Viaccess-Orca, responsible for managing R&D teams based in France and Israel with a focus on rolling out next-generation security and TV Platform solutions. Nicolas has 25 years of experience in OTT & IPTV video distribution and content services. He first started in the industry within Philips Broadcast division, leading the development of video encoding and decoding solutions for internet/PC and mobile devices, before spending five years as Product Manager developing a €10m per year business product line to tier one OEM manufacturers. Next, he took over the R&D Director position, managing multiple worldwide teams and guiding his team through two major transformations: the introduction of Agile methodology and a pivot from an OEM business to a Service Video Provider one. In 2014, Nicolas co-founded Sqaudeo, a software company distributing multi-platform secure player for broadcasters and operators, which was acquired by VO in 2017, where he took up his current position. Nicolas graduated from ‘Institute National des Sciences Appliqués en Informatique et Système” in Rennes and is passionate regarding IT technologies and the Internet of Things. 

Anne Le Beuz is the Executive Vice President of Project Delivery and Regions.

She manages customer projects; and she ensures the management and development of the regions (LATAM, APAC, EMEA).

Anne has 25 years of experience in the telecom sector. She has directed teams in R&D, sales, professional services, consulting, and project management; in the USA, EMEA, and France. She started her career in Alcatel USA where she held a R&D management position. Later, she has led professional services and pre-sales teams in Lucent.

She joined Orange Business Services in 2006, where she managed pre-sales activities for Aeronautic MNCs. Then, In Orange France, Anne initiated and directed the project management team in charge of consumer quadruple play offers and equipment. She was the program director of Livebox 4.

In 2016, willing to hold operational responsibilities, Anne opened and managed Orange Opéra, in Paris. This concept store is Orange’s flagship and world’s biggest store.

Most recently, Anne framed and launched the Agile & SAFe transformation of Orange France, as the Transformation Program Director.

Anne holds a MS in Telecommunications (IMT, France) and a MBA (Strayer University, USA).

Claire Delamare is Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Viaccess-Orca. After graduating Essec & Celsa, Paris, she began her career as HR Business Partner in Orange France, marking the beginning of a diverse career at the company. She held various HR positions in Orange, mostly in the B2B environment, focusing on skills anticipation, recruitment, and work-council relationships. She was previously Deputy HR Director in Orange Business Services’ Cloud Business Unit.

Hervé Gallot is the Executive Vice President Finance at Viaccess-Orca. Hervé has over 25 years’ experience in the high-tech and software industries in France and abroad. Prior to joining VO, Hervé held several international positions at blue chip companies such as Apple, Silicon Graphics, and Cisco, as well as medium-sized companies and start-ups.

Throughout his career, he held a variety of positions in the field of IT, business administration and finance. The common thread has always been enablement of business development. Most recently, Hervé was CFO at Cloudwatt, a (IaaS) Cloud provider part of Orange Business Services. Hervé Gallot graduated in Computer Science and holds two MBAs, a first one from EM Lyon (FR) and a second one Cranfield School of Management (UK).

Kari Kärkkäinen is the Vice President of TV Apps Business and the Managing Director of VO Finland. He is responsible for applications development for Viaccess-Orca globally, and for managing the Viaccess-Orca entity in Tampere, Finland. Kari has over 25 years of experience working in the software and mobile devices industries in various roles, including engineering, program management, sourcing and leadership. He has lived and worked in Finland, USA and Germany, and his past employers include Nokia, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sandvik and PacketVideo. In 2014, Kari founded BigHill Companies Oy, a software company focusing on applications development, which was subsequently acquired by Viaccess-Orca in December 2016. Kari graduated from California State University Bakersfield (USA) in Computer Science and also holds an MBA from University of Durham (UK) and an LLM (IT & Telecommunications Law) from University of Strathclyde (UK).

Atika Boulgaz is EVP Global Communication at Viaccess-Orca. She has 360° communication vision and experience thanks to several positions within the Orange Group, notably at Wanadoo and Orange France. After three years in the Gaming Unit (GOA) of the Orange Content Division she became expert in Press Relations, Event Management and Advertising. Atika joined Viaccess-Orca in 2010 and she is now managing the Marketing Communications and Internal Communication activities for the company. Atika graduated with a Masters degree in Communication and Advertising from INSEEC Paris.

As Executive Vice President Products and Services at Viaccess-Orca, Pierre-Alexandre Bidard plays a critical role in defining the company’s overall products, solutions and services strategy. He has over 20 years of experience in Telco and TV domains with major accomplishments in product launch for IPTV, OTT and mobile internet services. Prior to his current job, Pierre-Alexandre held senior level positions in global partnerships, product management, and project management at VO and Orange. He has a postgraduate research degree in Digital Telecommunication from Telecom Paris

Michael Froment is VO’s Executive Vice President of Customer Support & Operations, responsible for maintaining quality of service and ensuring that customer expectations are not only understood but exceeded.

He has 20 years of experience in the Telco and TV domains, beginning his career within the Altice Group managing system infrastructure for both B2B & B2C markets where major accomplishments included the launch of both VOD & OTT platforms. Since then he has worked in a variety of high profile industry roles.  He was Professional Services Manager at Anevia (now Ateme), building worldwide operational teams and improving the robustness of OTT products and operational processes; and in 2018, he joined the Canal+ Group, leading a quality improvement program for the delivery of OTT streaming, as well as building an in-house content delivery network dedicated to Canal+’s international regions.

After the successful operational launch of the Canal+ International CDN, he most recently worked for Huawei as European Executive Solution Manager for the EBG (Enterprise Business Group) division before joining VO, focusing on developing solutions for video service providers by aggregating storage, network, and application product lines.

Michael graduated from ESIEE-IT in Paris. 

Catherine Vergès is the EVP, General Counsel and Public Affairs at Viaccess-Orca. Having graduated with a Masters in International Commercial Trade from Université of Tours, she pursued a successful career in the legal departments of leading fashion and cosmetics brands. Gaining experience in France and abroad, as well as a post as a visiting lecturer at the Université of Tours on International Contracts and Intellectual Property Rights, she also worked as a lawyer before joining Orange as AMEA Legal Counsel in 2012. Following roles as Director Legal Department for Orange Réunion & Mayotte and Legal Business Partner at OrangeCyberDéfense, she first brought her extensive knowledge and expertise to VO as VP International Contracts in January 2022 before moving to her current position in April 2023.