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A 2020 IÉSEG graduate (Grande École Program), Laure BARON has been CSR Manager at Supermarché Match (a French retailer). From steering environmental strategy and managing projects to corporate sponsorship, employee awareness campaigns, and regulatory monitoring, Laure walks us through a role that spans a wide range of responsibilities in addressing today’s environmental and social challenges.

How did you become a CSR Manager?

I joined Supermarché Match three years ago as a CSR Project Manager, and I was later promoted to CSR Manager in September 2024, taking on leadership of the department.

I found my calling at IÉSEG, during my master’s program. I was taking a course on CSR for the first time—I’d never even heard of the topic in previous years. At the time, it was considered a bit niche, even utopian to some of my classmates, but I found it fascinating. I knew right away that I wanted to dig deeper into the field.

So I did my final internship at Decathlon as a Junior CSR Project Manager. It was an incredible experience that confirmed I was on the right path. Over the years, I sometimes had to step away from CSR work, but it always remained a true calling for me.

What does your role involve day to day?

Put simply, my job as CSR Manager is to develop and drive the company’s CSR strategy. My responsibilities are incredibly varied. One major part of the job is overseeing our community outreach efforts, both at the local store level and nationally. I work closely with nonprofit partners to launch programs like checkout rounding-up campaigns and “buy one, give one” products, organize food drives, and support in-store sponsorship initiatives.

I’m also responsible for steering our environmental strategy. That means tracking a lot of non-financial performance indicators and coordinating projects designed to improve the company’s environmental performance. The work ranges from calculating our carbon footprint with an outside provider, to building a network of sustainability ambassadors, to rolling out reusable packaging deposit systems in stores. It really runs the gamut.

There’s also a significant regulatory monitoring component when it comes to sustainability, along with a communications piece aimed at raising awareness among both internal and external stakeholders. And, of course, putting together our annual sustainability report, which is a key reference document for Supermarché Match.

What does a typical week look like for you?

No two weeks really look the same. I split my time between recurring meetings—team check-ins, project steering committees, and so on—and one-off engagements: meetings with a nonprofit partner, a local government office, a business network, or store visits. The scope is huge: 115 stores in total. Unfortunately, I can’t visit them as often as I’d like, but it’s important to do so to get a real feel for what’s happening on the ground.

What are the main challenges in your job?

The biggest challenge is decentralizing the CSR function so that it becomes fully embedded in operational job descriptions at every level of the company. People in every role need to truly own this topic. I’d even go so far as to say that, ideally, my position shouldn’t exist forever—the ultimate goal is for everyone to fully integrate these priorities into their own jobs.

Beyond that, we’re dealing with a regulatory landscape that’s shifting constantly right now, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

The third challenge is staying focused on ROI and budget considerations, and demonstrating that our CSR initiatives are genuinely tied to the company’s broader strategy.

What qualities are essential to succeed?

You really have to be a jack-of-all-trades. You need vision and the ability to look ahead, so you can rally teams around annual strategies and action plans. You also need strong organizational and interpersonal skills, since we’re constantly interacting with nearly every department in the company.

That said, it’s essential to strike a balance between commitment and stepping back. This is a job people feel passionate about, one where you can pour a lot of yourself into the work—and if you don’t maintain enough distance, it can become hard to separate your sense of self from the role. I’ve seen a lot of people in this field change paths because they gave so much that they burned out. Stepping back, staying patient, and not taking things personally—that’s the key.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The sheer range and variety of the work. I might be working on in-store deposit systems one day, food waste reduction the next, then non-financial reporting after that. It’s broad and rich. I also have real autonomy over the issues I handle, which I really value.

Beyond that, what matters most to me is the sense that I’m contributing, in my own small way, to a better society. I get a lot of satisfaction from helping employees build their skills in this area, whether that’s developing training modules, organizing Climate Fresk workshops, or encouraging them to question and rethink certain habits in their day-to-day work.

How did IÉSEG help prepare you for this career?

First and foremost, IÉSEG is where I discovered what CSR even was—that alone was a great first step. Beyond that, the professional mindset that IÉSEG instills in its students is essential, whether through coursework, mentoring, or internship opportunities. I notice it when I interview IÉSEG students applying for work-study programs: compared to candidates from other schools, the difference is clear. It’s a particular way of thinking—one focused on bringing solutions, not just identifying problems.

During my master’s, we worked extensively in project teams with classmates. That skill is essential, since project management makes up about 90% of my job. The same goes for presentations: public speaking, persuading stakeholders at every level of the organization, and thinking ahead about how to structure and frame an issue to make a compelling case.