With 7000 employees to supervise, 19,000 including franchisees and Golden Tulip employees, Vincent Coubard does not have time to watch the world go by! With fine features, modest glasses and a touch of grey at the temples, at 50 the Vice-President, Human Resources is still one of the "youngsters" on the Executive Committee. Trained as a lawyer, he joined Louvre Hotels in July 2007 after years in the world of luxury goods, with Dior and then Givenchy. "I wanted to integrate a service company where projects are centred on people", he explains. The challenge is all the more difficult because the group encompasses so many diverse professions and the employees are scattered over hundreds of locations. However, this does not intimidate the accomplished athlete, a regular long-distance runner who swims, cycles and, above all, plays golf to relax. His missions within the company are manifold: defining the best organisation for training employees in the ongoing cultural revolution, as Louvre Hotels is transformed from a family-owned business to a multinational corporation. This process demands the implementation of an environment that encourages innovation. With two recent initiatives, Vincent Coubard also intends to turn the group into a model citizen: by organising meetings with the employment authorities, to restore a positive image of the hotel industry professions, and by hiring young people from disadvantaged districts. A social, almost political stance. And this is no accident: at one time Vincent Coubard considered a career in public service.