MADAME Cecile Bonnefond of Paris, a chic, elegant and bubbly 46, and a champagne drinker, is the new CEO of Veuve Cliquot. This is the name of a subsidiary of the LMVH group that runs two other champagne houses, krug and Canard Duchene. Madame Cecile has in her portfolio all three, plus five wineries: the Cloudy Bay in New Zealand; Lape Mentelle and Mountadam in Australia; and, Newton and Pacific Echo in California. LMVH either owns these champagne houses outright or has invested in them because they have the potential of doing well.

Her big ambition is to make sure that Veuve Cliquot remains the world�s No. 2 champagne and is a strong No. 2 champagne, and never to try and be No. 1. Ask her which is the global market leader and she says, unhesitatingly, �Moet & Chandon�. But adds, �Veuve Cliquot is an exclusive champagne and exclusivity rarely fits a size. It is available in 150-plus countries of the world and as a subsidiary in 13, out of which seven nations are in Asia. India is one of them. A subsidiary company is one that is dedicated to selling Veuve Cliquot�s wines and champagnes.� The Veuve Cliquot touch, according to Madame Cecile, is its special way of doing business. �We�ve been in the business since 1772 but didn�t come here in a hurry. We believe in developing small personal, but powerful, relations with our customers.� She�s a great pusher of Veuve Cliquot champagne and drinks it herself fairly regularly. �It is one of the top brands, an exclusive, traditional but trendy champagne, a luxury champagne.� And she�s promoting it by tying up with various sporty, trendy and fashionable events around the world. Polo in Delhi, the regatta in Italy, the opera in Sydney, horse racing in UK.

She sees India as a challenge. �A tiny portion of the people have access to fine wines and champagnes, but this portion is relevant in terms of numbers. I�d like that to grow. We�re involved in image building and wine education so that when your government allows us to provide champagne at affordable prices to the customer by reducing the import taxes, they will say, �Yes, Veuve Cliquot is an affordable luxury�.�

She was born in 1956 and graduated from The European Business School in Paris, then started her career as product manager, then group manager, in the Danone Group. In 1984 she moved to Kellog�s France where she was successively marketing director, general manager of marketing and sales, then managing director and CEO of Grand Metropolitan Foods France overseeing the activities also of Brossard, Haagen Dazs, Geant Vert and Old El Paso.

From 1997 to 2000, she was the CEO of all the biscuits and pastries activities in France and Italy of the Sara Lee Group. And now, she�s the Veve Cliquot woman. Madame Cecile Bonnefond is happy with the way women and men drink champagne in India, how this is a drink that is shared in social times, and how everybody is always happy to drink champagne. She�s sees a good and strong growth for Veuve Cliquot even though these are early days. She�s aware that hers is what is called the happiness industry and while it takes a special time for people to drink champagne, she does not want it to be only an exceptional celebration. �Have Veuve Cliquot when you want to experience pleasure in life,� she advises, �because it is rarely drunk when people are just thirsty!�