The World According to HEC
March 9-14, 2026. A week in which women’s leadership, workplace politics and inclusive finance gave the HEC ecosystem a broader and livelier presence in the media.
Prepared from the weekly media reviews for March 9-13, 2026.
Key takeaways
• Three alumni successes: Chloé Bernard in the auto sector, Carmen Muñoz-Dormoy and a career built through engineering; and Alexandra Reni-Catherine on beauty, innovation and international scale.
• Yann Algan’s policy paper arguing that isolation, distrust and weak social ties at work help explain part of the RN vote.
• The Time4 startup enjoys a 50 million euro first closing aimed at entrepreneurs still underrepresented in venture capital.
• Taken together, the week balances society, politics and economics with zooms on executive careers, workplace fractures and capital allocation.
This week's review opens with three women whose careers were featured in the press pack, then moves to Yann Algan's study on work and political preferences; HEC-backed startup Time4's first closing; and a student-built application arriving just before France’s municipal vote on March 15. The result is a mix of society, politics and economics, anchored each time in the week's media coverage.
Women and the car industry
Journal Auto places the feminization of the automobile sector at the top of the week's HEC alumni coverage. The article notes that women represent around 25% of employees in the automotive industry and 22% in automotive services, while stressing that equality remains unfinished business. HEC graduate Chloé Bernard is the chief executive of the Bernard group. She says the company's executive committee is evenly split between three women and three men, while apprenticeship is presented as one way to bring more women into after-sales jobs and operational management.
From engineering to regional leadership
The portrait of Carmen Muñoz-Dormoy in Presse Evasion is one of a regional director of EDF Bourgogne-Franche-Comté who followed from engineering studies in Spain to France, then from the construction sector into EDF research on energy savings and building innovation. The review also notes that the HEC alumnus trained at HEC in management and marketing, before a series of broader responsibilities within the group. ““One of the main barriers lies in academic tracks that remain shaped by stereotypes,” she insists, “and the fact that many young women do not feel entitled to pursue. We are still far from gender parity in engineering schools, and that imbalance is mechanically reflected in companies.” The article keeps the emphasis on trajectory: engineering, research, management and regional leadership in sequence.
A beauty executive shaped by Asia
A third graduate appears in CosmetiqueMag with Alexandra Reni-Catherine, the HEC alumnus now helping to “transform” La Roche-Posay. The profile traces more than twenty years at L'Oréal, including nearly a decade in Asia between Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo. Those years are described as central to the way she approaches skincare, innovation and consumer expectations. The article also presents her current role in dermocosmetics as one that combines international development, product strategy and public-health concerns.
Politics at work
The political center comes from Yann Algan and his HEC colleagues, Camille Frouard and Antonin Bergeaud. In widespread coverage, the study argues that workplace experience helps explain part of the RN vote among private-sector employees. The figures cited put RN support at 25.5% among those workers. More importantly, the articles return to the same variables: isolation, distrust toward colleagues and weak social ties at work. Conversely, argues Algan in Le Monde, “The LFI (France Unbowed) employees trust their fellow workers. They feel at ease within their team, but they are, on the other hand, deeply distrustful of management - and even of the company itself. Their anxiety and frustration is rooted in the purpose of work. They do not want to find their place in the system; they want to change it.” Algan and Bergeaud’s argument is not framed around pay alone, but around what daily work relations do to confidence, recognition and belonging.
Capital beyond the usual circles
On the economic side, Time4 runs through several days of coverage. The fund, launched by daphni with the backing of Les Déterminés, Live for Good and HEC Paris, announced a first closing of 50 million euros, with a target of 100 million euros. Across the articles gathered in the reviews, the line remains consistent: the vehicle aims to finance entrepreneurs from backgrounds and territories that remain underrepresented in venture capital. The sums mentioned are also consistent, with tickets ranging from 100,000 euros to 1 million euros, and a portfolio expected to reach around sixty startups.
A student app before the municipal vote
The final note comes from Les Echos, which reports on applications designed to mobilize young voters ahead of this Sunday’s municipal elections in France. Among them is "Citoyen Informé," launched at the end of February 2026 and developed in one month by Vassili de Rosen. He is currently enrolled in a double Master's in data and artificial intelligence at HEC and Ecole polytechnique. The application is presented as a tool to help users understand the programs of Paris candidates through an interactive format. Published on the eve of the vote, the article closes the week on a practical register: participation rather than diagnosis.