Renault chooses its chief financial officer to take the helm as interim CEO following the surprise departure of Luca de Meo.
Duncan Minto takes on the temporary role for an as-yet unspecified period while the group looks for a permanent replacement for the wildly successful de Meo, who ended his tenure as CEO in June to take the top job at the parent company of the fashion brand Gucci.
He had been credited with turning Renault’s fortunes around when it was losing money in 2020 after the departure of Carlos Ghosn, who currently is living in Lebanon as a fugitive from Japanese law amid allegations of fraudulent behavior.
In a company statement, Renault says Minto will ensure the day-to-day management of the company alongside Jean-Dominique Senard, who will hold the position of chairman of the group during the interim period.
Minto is seen as a safe pair of hands and is a long-time Renault employee, having joined the group after graduating in 1997 from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
In 2001, he joined the group’s finance department in France, where he was in charge of investor relations. Minto was then appointed finance director of Renault-Nissan Portugal in 2006 before becoming managing director of Renault Ireland in 2012, then CFO of Renault’s Asia-Pacific region in 2013.He was appointed CFO of Renault subsidiary Dacia in 2022 before becoming CFO of the Alpine brand in 2023. Minto was named the group’s CFO in March this year.
