Laurent Stencel
Communications Director
Laurent Stencel was appointed Director of Communications at Inria on the 1st December 2020. Alongside Bruno Sportisse, CEO of Inria, he will be in charge of supporting, through communication, the implementation of Inria's Contract of Objectives and Performance for the period 2019-2023.
Laurent Stencel graduated in human sciences (Paris IV Sorbonne) and holds a Master 2 in Corporate Communication Marketing obtained at CESEM/Néoma. His professional career began at the advertising agency Havas, in 1996, where he worked as account manager for Louis Vuitton, Air France, La Mondiale, Carte Noire, Banania, Benco.
In 1998, he became Deputy CEO at Guillaume Tell (Publicis group), who was the first corporate agency to launch the "Employer Brand" concept in France. Responsible for the operational management of multi-disciplinary teams of consultants, overseeing the business development of the agency, he completed high-level strategic consulting assignments in various sectors, including IT, industry or energy. In 2005, he was appointed Deputy CEO of Publicis Consultants.
In 2007, he joined Racing Club de Lens, a professional football club, to guide its entry into the stock market. He ended up managing an 18-month sporting crisis. In a crisis context, working with CEO and the executives, he definined short and long term communication strategy, audited and restructured, etc. He helped Club to embrace digital, led co-branding projects ans managed the partnerships.
In 2009, Laurent Stencel joined Inria as a Communications Director. Responsible for a 50-strong team in an international scientific environment, he supervised all of the institute’s internal and external communications, including Identity, Digital, Press Relations, PR, PA, Events and Publishing.
He joined Onthemoon in 2012, communication agency, as a managing director, and led the implementation of national &international strategic guidelines in France and overseas for few clients like LVMH, Thuasne, France Télévision or Crédit Mutuel.
In January 2018, he joined Epoka, a global corporate agency, as the head of change communication practice, and listed and midsize companies to support their transition, by designing, leading global corporate communications programs, covering both short and long term transformational issues.
At ease in fast-paced and multicultural environnements, Laurent Stencel has a strong experience in the field of digital strategies, corporate, advertising, change management communications supporting and helping leader (CEO & board, managing multidisciplinary teams (multicultural and matrix organizations) and digital transformation.