Olivier Thibault appointed General Director of the French Biodiversity Agency

Appointed by decree of the President of the Republic on June 5, 2023, Olivier Thibault becomes General Manager of the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB). He succeeds Pierre Dubreuil, who headed the OFB during its first three years, after Denis Charissoux took over as interim director in January.

Olivier Thibault, born in 1973, a graduate of the École Polytechnique (1993) and the École nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts, and a general engineer in bridges, water and forests, had been director of water and biodiversity at the French Ministry for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion since November 2019.

Olivier Thibault has been involved in the management of water, nature and biodiversity issues for 20 years. Between 2010 and 2017, he headed the Artois-Picardie Water Agency, then the French National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), between 2017 and 2019. In this capacity, he played an active role in the prefiguration of the French Biodiversity Agency, born on January 1, 2020.

Prior to this, he was successively head of department at the Departmental Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry - first in the Ain department and then in Savoie. He also headed the office of decentralized water police services at the Water Directorate of the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, before joining Jean-Louis Borloo's cabinet at the Ministry of the Environment.

Throughout these years, Olivier Thibault has had the opportunity to grasp the issues and problems of water management and biodiversity protection in the territories, to lead projects and to exchange with all stakeholders.

Following his appointment as Director general of the French Biodiversity Agency, he underlined the actions, the exceptional work and the professionalism of all OFB agents, who have been working hard for the past three years to build and consolidate the French Biodiversity Agency as the national reference operator for water and biodiversity.