Raphaël Hélion
Chief Information and Technology Officer
Forvis Mazars Group
Raphaël Hélion is the Global CITO for Forvis Mazars group, a global network of professional services specializing in audit, tax, and advisory services. They operate in over 107 countries with approximately 40,000 professionals. The group generated a revenue of nearly 5 billion euros, making it one of the top 10 largest in the industry.
With over 25 years' experience in CIO roles, Raphaël is an expert in IT strategy, organisational transformation, the operational and economic efficiency of CIOs, the structuring and management of major programmes, and the introduction of emerging technologies.
A fun fact about Raphaël, he is passionate about sailing, and he has been a formal offshore sailing teacher for 7 years. He also holds a private pilot's licence (PPL), and he enjoys playing golf. In addition, he says, “I need to feed myself with knowledge, so I spend a lot of time navigating the Internet and YouTube to learn, especially on technology and management leadership. I continue to have personal coding projects for fun.”
Learn more about the France CIO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I am a computer science engineer by education, and I graduated in 1998 (the year of first star on the France football team shirt.) I started my professional career in a project management solution software company (the product is Clarity PPM from Computer Associate) as technical consultant. I then spent 11 years within Baker & McKenzie (an international Law firm), starting with France responsibility and moving to Head of Western Europe IT.
I joined PwC in 2012 for 10 years acting as CIO / CDO for France and Francophone Africa. Gradually, I changed the IT department's operating model, cleared the technological debt, completely reinvented the employee experience, and created new offerings for internal and external use (RPA Factory, Digital Factory, Reporting factory, etc.). The IT teams became involved in a large number of missions for PwC clients (SME, delivery, creation of accelerators and digital products). In addition to my internal role, I’ve been part of the CIO advisory teams, helping clients in the implementation of the same transformations and challenges.
I joined Forvis Mazars in 2012 to transform IT, to accelerate our innovation and agility capabilities, to provide the best clients and user experience, reinvent our business delivery, and sustain our growth in all countries we operate.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
My culture of management is more servant leader than command and control. I believe that the only way to build amazing things is by building the best teams, giving them vision and meaning and facilitating their day to day to get the best of themselves.
What is the greatest challenge CIOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
Transforming legacy operating models and technologies while accelerating on innovation and business digitalisation at the same time – without compromising our Cybersecurity posture.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CIO?
Be able to address strategy and execution at the same time. Be resilient, agile and open.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Two ways: being considered as a business partner and net promote score (NPS) of our teams.
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