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Unconventional careers in finance with Arnaud Sabadie (MBA ’03)

A woman spraying perfume on her wrist.

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to an education in business. With the versatile knowledge and skills you develop at the Telfer School of Management, your degree is what you make it. The career of Arnaud Sabadie (MBA ’03) shows how finance skills can be applied in unexpected industries. 

Making his mark in the cosmetics industry

Sabadie completed his bachelor’s and masters in finance at Audencia Business School in Nantes (France). He then completed a joint international MBA with Audencia Business School and the Telfer School of Management. As the largest French-English bilingual university in the world, uOttawa takes pride in attracting students from French-speaking countries, like Sabadie, including through university partners in places such as Egypt, Lebanon, the Ivory Coast and France. 

After completing his international MBA at the Telfer School of Management, Sabadie’s first postgraduate opportunity was with Yves Rocher in France, a skincare, cosmetics and perfume company. He then worked as a business and finance controller at L’Oreal, overseeing operations in France and Belgium. 

Arnaud Sabadie holding a microphone at a podium.

In 2009, Sabadie joined Sephora, working his way from financial controller to manager to head of finance and supply chain in France and Dubai, eventually leading the team as the company’s global CFO. 

During his time in Dubai, Sabadie supervised all finance, supply chain and information technology activities for Sephora in the Middle East. He and his team focused on change management, with growth and transformation at the forefront. Sabadie says, It was all about building our organization and the backbone for the future while  ensuring short-term goals were achieved. 

After six years in Dubai, Sabadie heeded his family’s desire to return to France. He stresses the importance of successful family relocation in an expatriate’s career. “A successful professional expat is first of all a successful family relocation,he says. This underscores his belief in maintaining a supportive family dynamic during challenging career moves. 

After spending over 10 years with Sephora, Sabadie became the global chief operating officer at Maison Francis Kurkdjian, a prestigious fragrance house. Located in the heart of Paris. Maison Francis Kurkdjian is part of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), a world leader in the luxury goods industry. 

Sabadie’s desire to help the next generation of business leaders led him to teach at Paris Dauphine University in France for five years. Arnaud’s relationship with Telfer has come full circle. Sabadie is a mentor with the Executive Mentorship Program, allowing him to share his knowledge and experience with future business leaders.  

Sustainability shift in the beauty industry

Headshot of Arnaud Sabadie in a white room next to a display of Maison Francis Kurkdjian fragrances. Over the past 10 years, Sabadie has seen a significant change in sustainability initiatives in the cosmetics industry. Sabadie notes that the first sector to make noticeable changes to its sustainability practices was skincare, with the “clean beauty trend Now, most sectors of the beauty industry seem to have followed the lead of the skincare sector by implementing changes to promote sustainability. 

Initially, the most significant changes dealt with product ingredients, but now, many products are developed with eco-friendly packaging in mind. Although Sabadie welcomes this change, he acknowledges that theres still work to be done: “It’s great to see this move, but we need to act fast, both on brands and to change clients’ perspectives.” 

For Sabadie, another major focus in sustainability is the selling channel. This includes evaluating point of sales materials and communication campaigns to reduce the business’s environmental impact. These customer touchpoints, which include anything from experiential pop-ups to influencer events, contribute to the industry’s carbon footprint. 

Leadership takeaways from Telfer’s International MBA

During his time at Telfer, Sabadie appreciated the real-life application approach to learning and found the case studies to be the most valuable takeaway. He says that his time here provided a different perspective on business than he’d previously experienced 

At both the undergraduate and MBA levels, Telfer offers many opportunities to get involved in case competitions in and outside of the classroom. This type of experiential learning provides students the opportunity to solve real-life problems and gain real-life experience 

Telfer’s hands-on learning also allows for collaboration with peers and building vast professional networks. Even after graduation, the broad Telfer community is still there for alumni — just last year, Sabadie came to Ottawa to visit a former classmate. He also encouraged Kristina Likhovid (BCom 03) to apply for a position with his team at Sephora during his time as global CFO. Most recently, Sabadie attended the Telfer alumni event in Paris, where he caught up with other alumni and met members of the school’s engagement team. 

No matter what direction life takes, it’s nice to know there will always be Telfer alumni nearby.