Philippe Varin (54) was appointed Chief Executive of Corus in May 2003. Prior to this he was the Senior Executive Vice President, Aluminium Sector, of Pechiney and a member of its Executive Committee.

He joined Pechiney in 1978 in the R & D function, and held a number of positions in France and in the USA, including marketing, project construction, strategy and control leading to general management. He is President of Eurofer, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries and was appointed a non-executive director of BG Plc in May 2006.